Gaia Arquetípica: as visões mitica ambiental e feminina da Deusa a partir do Hino Homérico Nº30

Abstract

The way humans understand and behave in relation to the environment is one of the most sensitive points today. Environmental degradation has, especially in 2023, shown its extent in the climate collapse that has made this year the hottest in recorded History. Drought in the rainforest, catastrophic floods, devastating storms came as Earth's response to the abuses committed by humanity, especially in the last 150 years. In parallel to this, we can observe the constant struggle of women against violence, oppression, and abuse to which they are subjected by this same socio-economic-cultural model that attacks our planet. Ecofeminist theory does not see these occurrences as fortuitous nor as elements detached from each other. Using Environmental History in conjunction with critical theories of Feminism, ecofeminists believe that there is an inextricable connection between women and the understanding of Earth and Nature as feminine entities. Both being treated as targets of possession, control, use and abuse by a system centered on financial profit and male power. The question that has been asked is: when did this begin? When did this cultural correlation emerge and start to dictate the structure of behavior? This study aims to investigate some of the birth sets of this connection. Homer's Hymn n.30 dedicated to the goddess Gaia was the work chosen for this analysis. Both for its ancestry and for its elaboration on the functions of the feminine in women and the Earth as a woman, placing the order and happiness of the world in the subjection of both to the power of men. The objective of analyzing this source is to seek elements to understand the sources from which Western culture “drank” to build this understanding of the world. As well, it is interesting to understand how this worldview came to be constituted in a social structure. Thus, we add to Ecofeminism and Environmental History, the study of archetypes of the collective unconscious ⸺ as proposed by Carl Jung and developed by other scholars ⸺ as one of the possibilities for our understanding of the issue. As a result of this analysis, we believe we can contribute to rethinking such standards at this critical moment in human history.