Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and the Specter of Exploitation: A Reading of Easterine Kire’s When the River Sleeps

Abstract

Easterine Kire’s novel, When the River Sleeps, transcends a simple hero’s quest narrative to present a profound ecological parable. This paper argues that Kire constructs a stark dichotomy between Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK), embodied by the protagonist Vilie’s spiritual and respectful relationship with the natural world, and the forces of modern exploitation, represented by the quarry and its miners, which operate on a logic of extraction and domination. Through a close reading of the text, this article examines how Vilie’s animistic worldview, where the river, forest, and stones are sentient beings, stands in direct opposition to the miners’ instrumentalist view of nature as a mere resource. The analysis explores key themes including the agency of the non-human, the concept of the river’s “sleep” as a state of vulnerable ecological balance, and the consequences of violating sacred natural spaces. Ultimately, the novel suggests that IEK offers not just a sustainable alternative but a necessary epistemological framework for coexistence, positioning Vilie’s quest as a critical intervention against the tide of ecological destruction driven by capitalist modernity.