Abstract
The purpose of this article is to present an ecocritical-philosophical analysis of Riana
Scheepers’ short story “Katvoet” (2009). In previous work I have analysed this text with
reference to a phenomenological framework (LitNet Academic 13(2):227-252). However, in
my view the story offers more possibilities for interpretation. In particular, it may be fruitfully
explored in ecocritical terms. To this end, I draw on Alaimo, Hekman, Bennett, Buell, Burton-
Christie, Garrard, Iovino, Love, Morton, Warren, as well as some of the prominent Afrikaans
academics in the ecocritical field, namely Susan Smith and Susan Meyer.
I first outline the differences between the ecocritical framework informing the current as
opposed to my earlier phenomenological study. I employ this framework to challenge some
of the general Western philosophical ideas that ground Western thought (according to Karen
Warren 2015, 2009): 1. the idea that rationality is the ultimate characteristic and faculty of
human beings which makes them distinct and superior to animals; 2. the conception of human
beings as rational beings with the ability to think logically; 3. a belief in basic binary
oppositions, such as mind and body, woman and man, subjectivity and objectivity, culture and
nature, and rationality and emotions; 4. the belief in an ontological difference between human
beings and animals (Diehm 2003:32-3; Warren 2015; Warren 2009). Ecocriticism and its
various manifestations in literature is further discussed. Thereafter the analysis of the short
story “Katvoet” is presented in accordance with the above conceptual framework. In the story,
the basic assumptions that ground the Western philosophical ideas are critically analysed as
they are presented in the story, in order to determine to which degree these ideas are being
challenged. What seems to be essential arising from this analysis is that the basic binary
oppositions, traditional Western philosophical ideas, the concept of nature and the basic
anthropocentric thinking that dominates literature are challenged in this story.