Maps of the Untamed Self Ecofeminist Geographies of Movement, Stillness and the Ancestral Call

This dissertation investigates the revolutionary act of being as a profound subversive response to the enduring structural and ontological apparatus of patriarchal society, mapping the journey of female autonomy as it breaks away from the logic of domesticity toward a reclaimed sense of self. By adopting an interdisciplinary and ecofeminist lens, the research interrogates the historical and contemporary ways in which women have experienced and utilised movement - specifically walking - and solitude in order to exit systemic enclosures and reclaim an ancestral connection to both the self and the Earth. The study begins with a critical deconstruction of the patriarchal paradigm through Riane Eisler’s The Chalice and The Blade, tracing its historical trajectory and its modern manifestations in a globalised society driven by the imperatives of linear productivity, and of what Vandana Shiva refers to as maldevelopment. At the core of this inquiry is a partial genealogical analysis of female literature, used as a source of resistance and re-mapping. The thesis explores different ways of resisting this patriarchal and capitalistic system, examining the act of desertion through an analysis of Virginia Woolf’s works, where urban wandering and domestic negotiation serve as political reclamation of personal space and a rediscovered female gaze, tools towards freedom. This literary lineage is further enriched by Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain, categorised here as an ecofeminist text; Shepherd’s experience provide a biocentric reflection, a non-hierarchical fusion of body and landscape - a horizontal mode of being that challenges the colonialist and male vertical conquest of nature. The theoretical heart of the research lies indeed in the concept of reclaiming the Ancestral Body. The dissertation argues that the synchronisation of the human pace with biological rhythms - specifically the menstrual cycle and innate somatic pulses - serves as a radical form of resistance, a sovereign pause against the unnatural acceleration of the modern age. By examining the dialectic between staying (encompassing solitude and silence) and moving (encompassing walking and wandering), the work seeks to decolonise physical and mental territories. In these reappropriated spaces, the female body is transformed from a passive resource to be exploited into an active tool, as well as a companion in a reciprocal relationship with the self and the ecosystem. The female authors mentioned in this thesis are purposely many, as every one and each of them is essential within the Healing Dialectic. Parts of the thesis consider a wider analytical frame and wish to be humbly realistic about the Western privilege of the authors mentioned throughout the dissertation. Bridging theory with praxis, the final chapters analyse Non Una di Meno alongside Eva zu Beck and Lise Wortley. Their radical expeditions embody existential choices that challenge entrenched narratives of female vulnerability, echoing bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Lorena Cabnal’s work on systemic discrimination and ancestral trauma. Finally, the thesis culminates in a personal reflection on the author’s own transition from the urban labyrinth of London to the ancestral landscapes of Central and South America, a chapter that intentionally breaks the rigid rules of traditional academic writing. The chosen progression of themes serves to validate the theoretical findings, ultimately advocating for a more holistic mode of existence that balances moving and staying through spiritual autonomy, deep ecological rootedness and communal healing. The common thread of this thesis is the importance of moving through the world with intention; the Untamed Self is not a final destination but a daily practice of unlearning - a constant mapping of the small, everyday choices that allow a woman to live within a grid system while staying connected to her own biological and ecological truth.