Page - 21 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02

DOI: 10.25364/05.6:2020.2.2 Comfort the Waste Places, Defend the Violated Earth | 21www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 21–33 Angela Sue Sawyer Comfort the Waste Places, Defend the Violated Earth An Ecofeminist Reading of Isaiah 51:1–52:6 and Tracy Chapman’s Song “The Rape of the World” Abstract This article compares the personification of Zion in Isaiah 51:1–52:6 as a mother and daughter with Tracy Chapman’s 1995 song “The Rape of the World”, where the earth is personified as a mother. These works share the power of metaphor in prophecy, poetry, and song to provoke political and social activism in multiple areas of injustice, using rape imagery in different ways. Both pieces portray the negative effects of hu- man activity on the earth, whether by commercial activity or war. The environmental impact of the desolation of the earth during the Babylonian exile depicted in Deutero- Isaiah is viewed through the lens of ecological criticism. The earth itself has a voice in both Chapman’s and Isaiah’s words. Keywords Ecological Criticism, Ecofeminism, Zion, Deutero-Isaiah, Tracy Chapman, Rape, Politi- cal Activism, Pop Music, Personification Biography Angela Sawyer is a faculty member at Stirling Theological College, University of Divin- ity, in Melbourne, Australia. She teaches Hebrew Bible and Biblical Studies and is Dean of Students. Sawyer’s doctoral work explored Deutero-Isaiah, exile, and post-church Australia. Her research focus includes trauma hermeneutics, feminist criticism, and Isaiah.