Axiology, Culture, Ethics, and Value Systems in Barbara Kingsolver’s Homeland and Other Stories

Abstract

the hierarchies of value ingrained in American cultural life, especially that governs race, gender, land, family, and memory. It provides this aspect by drawing on the philosophical frameworks of axiology, a discipline of philosophical study that deals with the nature and theory of values. According to the research, Kingsolver's fictional world intentionally constructs a counter-axiology—a set of values based on female ethics, Indigenous epistemology, and ecological interdependence—that subverts existing Western value systems. The article demonstrates how Kingsolver places moral and aesthetic value in relational, communal, and non-anthropocentric terms by analyzing specific stories like “Homeland”, “ Rose-Johnny”, “Covered Bridges”, and “Bereaved Apartments” through the prisms of Rokeach's theory of terminal and instrumental values, Nodding's ethics of care, and Leopold's land ethics. The article goes on to argue that the collection's recurrent themes—displacement, cultural erasure, maternal ties, and ecological resilience—serve as moral justifications in narrative apparel, outlining a space of significance that opposes cultural forgetfulness and commercialization. As a literary achievement and a societal intrusion in American cultural discourse, this study eventually presents Homeland and Other Stories as a culture-rich ethical literature whose axiological features deserve critical consideration.