ABSTRACT
This chapter defines re-enchantment as a conscious relational strategy that can help the reader/community to nurture affective bonds with non-human nature. It analyses two ecofeminist narratives that make a strong case for the re-enchantment of nature in the face of growing ecological devastation. The first text is the life story of the tribal leader C. K. Janu, the leader of the Muthanga land struggle by the dispossessed Adivasis of Kerala. C. K. Janu’s autobiography, titled Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C. K. Janu, evocatively describes her childhood and life in the forest and her subsequent political awakening. The second text is How I Became a Tree by Sumana Roy, a mainstream writer. The different facets of the arboreal feminine foregrounded in these narratives echo the ancient forest culture of India, which vested the power of protecting forests in female deities like Bonbibi and Aranyani.
