Ecological and Ecofeminist Issues in Idris Ali’s "Dongola" and "Al-Laʿib Fawqa Jibāl al-Nūba" (Playing on Nubian mountains)

This chapter analyzes two novels by Idris Ali: Dongola: A Novel of Nubia (2006) and "Al-Laʿib Fawqa Jibāl al-Nūba" (Playing on Nubian mountains, 2010 )from an eco-critical and ecofeminist perspective. Since nature was and still is of supreme importance to Nubians as their economy, agriculture, sociology, and culture depended on it, such eco-critical reading seeks to analyze the complex relation between nature and the characters in the novels, thus enabling us to come closer to the world in which Nubians live in, as well as explore the continuous negotiations taking place between nature and the culture of the Nubians. Ecofeminist issues will also be highlighted to explore the gender relations represented in the texts while the examination of the various uses of such literary tropes as metaphors and images in the Nubian imagination will also be discussed. This chapter focuses on the plight of the two major female characters Hushia and Halima in Dongola as well as Ghada in Playing on Nubian Mountains to prove that the ecological effect of the building of the Dams and their displacement have always been severely felt by the women and led to their tragic lives.