The Ecological Literacy of Dr. Abercio V. Rotor

 The Ecological Literacy of Dr. Abercio V. Rotor 

Rina Garcia Chua*

Abstract/Summary

The project was designed to explore the ecoliterate tendencies of Dr. Abercio V. Rotor

through his eco-poems in the collection Don't Cut the Trees. Don't and related essays in his two other books, The Living with Nature Handbook and Living with Nature in Our Times.  The aim of this ecocritique is to analyze the following: how his ecological literacy shapes his poetry, how his poetry fulfills the goal of ecological literacy,  and why his poetry represents a significant contribution to the steps being undertaken to save the earth.  Tropes of ecocriticism are used to support the ecoliterate tendencies that are introduced, namely, place as a mutualistic environment interrelationship dismantling of disasters aesthetics of environmental justice.  These tendencies have paved the way for a more critical/concrete perception of ecocriticism in the Philippine context and a stronger link between and among three fields - literature, science and education - in the environmental debate.     

This thesis has ecocritiqued the following areas of ecocriticism: the mutualism of no the and south environments in our country, the misperception of other animals and our interrelationship with them as species, the dismantling of disasters to bring forth survival through witnessing, and aesthetics and environmental justice in co-poetry as a way to testify against environmental abuses.  Rotor's ecoliteracy has consistently interpreted these tendencies through his eco-poetry with the use of his vast scientific knowledge, literary background, and educational perspective.  In doing so, he encourages sustainable thoughts which in turn can be actions and steps toward saving the earth.  Therefore ecological literacy has provided a link to utilize ecopoems for educational purposes to inspire and ingrain sustainable thoughts in readers.  This way, ecocriticism and environmental literature have contributed to the alleviation of the environmental crisis by being the voices of the unheard communities and their environments and by ecological frameworks in the Third World, where it is imperative to heed the call of environmental destruction and degradation.

Rina Garcia Chua completed her degree of Master of Arts in Language and Literature, major in Literature from the De La Salle University – Manila. Her manuscript was awarded a gold medal for outstanding thesis and all of its chapters have been presented in international and national conferences. She has been a fellow of several national literary workshops and has been published in different journals, literary magazines, and books. She is the editor of the first anthology of Philippine ecopoetry, ‘Sustaining the Archipelago’, which is forthcoming with the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, and currently, she is taking up her MA and PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies in the University of British Columbia.

*The Ecological Literacy of Dr. Abercio V. Rotor

Rina Garcia Chua

Master of Arts in Language and Literature, Major in Literature

Department of Literature, De La Salle University, Manila

Thesis Adviser: Veric, Charlie Dr.

Defense Panel Chair: Roma-Sintuari, Dinah, Dr. 

Defense Panel Chair Members: Lua, Shirley, Dr; Groyon, Vicente Victor Emmanuel

Recommended Citation

Chua, R (2014).  The Ecological Literacy of Dr. Abercio V Rotor

Retrieved from https://animorepository. dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4645 

   

Books written by Dr Rotor, winner of Gintong Aklat  Award, and National Book Award, respectively. ~