"Aslan's Own Land": Pastoral, Imperialism, and Environmental Stewardship in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia

Abstract

Recent scholarship on C.S. Lewis's life, work, and personal views of nature has suggested that we should use his enduring children's series The Chronicles of Narnia to teach youth environmental appreciation and stewardship. Lewis's fiction is rich with detailed descriptions of environments that function as more than mere background for human drama; his characters, both human and non-human, often express a deep reverence for the world around them. This is particularly clear in Narnia, in which the kingdom simultaneously mirrors and transcends our own Earth. However, Lewis presents a very specific environmental vision based on his own interpretation of Christian theology that, at the same time, remains bound to the imperial ideologies that dominated Lewis's time. Together these factors limit Lewis's environmental vision so that it becomes parochial and culturally exclusive. In fact, the series depicts a type of environmental stewardship that consciously and unconsciously works to legitimize Christian dominion and imperial projects. This thesis examines the presence of imperial ideology and colonial attitudes toward nature in the series, which is obscured through pastoral ideals and images of Edenic environments. I argue that using these books to teach environmental appreciation perpetuates parochial, imperially influenced conceptions of nature and environmentalism. The legacies of colonialism demand that we critically examine dominant environmentalisms, moving beyond imperial behaviors to address the environmental problems we face. Merely cultivating an appreciation for pastoral environments is not sufficient, as it will not help our younger generations understand the connections between lingering forms of imperialisms and environmental degradation.