AGENCY OF THE BODIES: MATERIALITY IN RUTH OZEKI’S ALL OVER CREATION

Abstract

Ruth Ozeki is a prominent Japanese - American contemporary novelist who addresses patriarchy, race, and the environmentin her works. Ozeki’s second novel All Over Creation focuses on the encounters between human and non-human nature.She presents an issue of great concern, namely genetically modified food, alongside issues pertaining to reproduction,racial discrimination, and capitalist agribusiness. This paper analyzes All Over Creation using material feminist theory whichadvocates that both human and non-human bodies are not passive and empty; rather, they are beings with their own needs,claims, and actions. By discussing similar encounters between human and non-human nature in terms of reproduction, thepaper analyzes the loss of body agency of both potatoes and women under the control of anthropocentrism and patriarchy.By drawing an analogy between potatoes and women, Ozeki expresses her criticism of the deep-seated anthropocentrism andpatriarchy and appeals to the emancipation of both potatoes’ and women’s bodies.