Environmental Ethics

The Lioness Defending Her Clan in the North East: A Study of Ecospiritual Elements in Mamang Dai’s Fiction

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Meghamala Satapathy1 & Ipsita Nayak2

1PhD Research Scholar, KIIT Deemed to be University; Email: satapathymeghamala@gmail.com; ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3519-766X

2Assistant Professor in English and Research Supervisor, KIIT Deemed to be University; Email: ipsita.teacher@gmail.com; ORCID ID:  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4584-7470

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s18n1

Abstract

Ecospirituality signifies spiritual evolution in consequence of one’s response to ecological stimuli. Mamang Dai is a powerful tribal voice from the North East India who has explored in depth the theme of Ecospirituality in her books. The article explicates those ecological attributes manifested in Dai’s works which form an integral part of the spiritual voyage of her characters. In an attempt to define the term ‘Ecospirituality,’ a review of existing literature has been placed at the beginning which is followed by discourse analysis of the five works of fiction which Dai has to her credit. All the arguments put forth in the article are substantiated by textual evidence from her books. The analysis of the said texts is followed by a conclusion suggesting a way forward. The present study examines the elements of Ecospirituality in Dai’s ‘fictional’ works alone hence the exclusion of her books of non-fiction. It shows how a slew of ecospiritual elements are identifiable in the fictional outputs of Dai and yet the theme demands more elaborate treatment due to the advent of new theoretical constructs.

Keywords: Ecospirituality, North East, Ecospiritualism, Mamang Dai, ethnography, folklore, Deep ecology, topography, ethnic identity

Sustainability, Civilization and Women- An Environmental Study of The Overstory by Richard Powers

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Nikita Gandotra1 & Dr Shuchi Agrawal2

1PhD scholar, Amity Institute of English Studies and Research, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. Email: nikitagandotra55@gmail.com

2Associate Professor, Amity Institute of English Studies and Research, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. Email: sagarwal2@amity.edu

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s10n6

Abstract

The Overstory by Richard Powers is a reflection of the environmental issues gripping the human civilization once ozone depletion and global warming loomed into focus. Global warming and an intensive exploration of environmental effects on the human civilization have gained significance over time and they persist to be eminent topic of debate in both local and global context. While Emerson and Thoreau pay serious literary attention in nineteenth-century America; Robert Frost engages with ecology in the twentieth century. Likewise contemporary American literature reflects the conflicts that surfaced due to the industrial and technological moves affecting the environment. Richard Powers’ novel forms an example how individuals and communities negotiate with these phenomena. There is nothing like Wordsworth and the English romanticists in fiction like The Overstory; there is nevertheless a romantic idealism in the characters whose engagement and commitment to environment and trees is portrayed by Powers. His reference to the Chipko movement is a gesture towards radical practical need and towards human commitment. Powers lets his character Mother N to affirm the strength of the Chipko women in India and the Kayapo Indians in Brazil, who stood up for trees. This strongly underlines the author’s intention:  women are central to civilization and sustainability. The paper aims to establish a relationship between sustainability and trees which symbolize life, and women who play a crucial role in sustaining both nature and civilization, in a sense, an ecofeminism.

Keywords: Richard Powers, The Overstory, Sustainability, Trees, Ecofeminism.

“Sense of Place and Sense of Planet”: Local-Planetary Experiences of Climate Change in Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior

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Sonam Jalan

Ph.D. Research Scholar, Bankura University, West Bengal. E-mail: sonam0726@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s10n5

Abstract

Climate change has become a harsh reality of our present times. It is happening here, there, and everywhere unbound by the spatial and temporal dimensions. The vacillating impact of such a global crisis equally demands multiple and concurrent scales in order to accurately comprehend the complexity of the problem. Borrowing the title of my paper from Ursula K. Heise’s book, Sense of Place and Sense of Planet: The Environmental Imagination of the Global, where she proposes the concept of ‘eco-cosmopolitanism’, this article aims at reflecting upon the globalization of the present ecocatastrophes, musing upon the local (the experiences of the working class people) and the global scale (Unnatural Migration and thereby extinction of the Monarch Butterflies) impact of the climate crisis. Ursula K. Heise believes that the ‘deterritorialization’ of the local knowledge is not always detrimental rather can open up new avenues into ecological consciousness. Giving consideration to a deterritorialised environmental vision my paper will fall back on Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior– a novel dealing with the eco-apocalypse, climate change and global warming. In providing a deeply humane account of the working people’s response to the local effects of the global crisis along with a poignant account of the impact on a planetary scale- the Migration of the Monarch Butterflies and their extinction, Kingsolver in this novel contextualizes the micro-geographically bounded human experience and memory within the larger context of the global Anthropocene thereby calling for a ‘sense of planet’ along with a ‘sense of place’- which get along with each other.

Keywords: Climate change, Eco-cosmopolitanism, Monarch Butterflies, Global warming, Anthropocene

Two Oils, One Evil: an Appraisal of Contemporary Dilemma of the Indigenous Population of Nigeria’s Oil-Delta Communities, 1956-2019

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Victor O. Ukaogo1 & Nwakuya Cecilia Ogechi2

1Department of History & International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Email: victor.ukaogo@unn.edu.ng

2Careers Unit (Registry Department), University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Email: Ogenwakuyah@yahoo.com

Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s32n3

 Abstract

This study examines the processes of economic transition and the corresponding impact on the Niger-Delta communities. It argues that the region has witnessed several epochs of economic transition; all of which came with damning consequences. While the major focus of the study is the change from palm oil to crude oil (two oils), the study explores the curious linkage between economic transitions, contemporary poverty and environmental violence in the region (one evil). The integration of the region into the vortex of oil globalization has paradoxically and inversely increased the poverty amongst the rural poor. The study argues that while the ‘oily debacle’ yield endless violence against the indigenous population, issues of environmental governance exacerbates. This is evidenced in the government’s militarized mediation strategies that worsen the prospects of peace in the enclave. Typical of ‘resource curse’ philosophy, the wealth from crude oil that should improve the lot of the rural poor has directly shut them out of the expected benefits of oil extraction. The study investigates and avers that the unholy alliance between the State and global capital is a challenge and concludes that capitalist exploitation of the region on account of crude oil explains the contemporary dilemma of the indigenous population.

Keywords: Niger-Delta; Globalization; Foreign Interest; Environmental Governance; Resource curse; Environmental security; Capitalist exploitation

Reconceiving the Ecological Wisdoms of Ved?nta in Anthropocene: An Eco-aesthetical Perspective

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Pankaj Kumar Verma1 & Prabha Shankar Dwivedi2

1Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, India. ORCID: 0000-0001-8952-7906. Email: hs18d002@iittp.ac.in

2Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, India. ORCID: 0000-0003-1620-2830. Email: prabhas.dwivedi@iittp.ac.in

  Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s29n2

Abstract

The paper aims to lay out a critical analysis of eco-aesthetical wisdom of pan-Indian society through the lens of ancient seers whose insights for environment and ecology were shaped in the form of the teachings of Vedas and Upani?ads. With the passage of time, the bond between humans and non-humans has largely weakened, and humans have increased exploiting the natural resources without caring for their regeneration. Consequent nature bred hostility is emerging as a bigger crisis in front of the 21st Century world that may sooner turn to be, if not taken seriously, an existential crisis for the whole human race. The Upani?ads enlighten us not only with the knowledge of maintaining the relationship between human beings and physical environment but also among various inhabitants of ecology. Therefore, as Deep Ecology proposes, there should be a shift from human at the centre (anthropocentricism) to ecology at the centre (ecocentrism) which very much was existing in Indian society. So, this paper attempts to deal with the global ecological crisis co-opting with the ecological/environmental ideas and attitude of the classical Indian treatises.

Keywords: Ecology, Eco-aesthetics, Ved?nta, Upani?ads, Anthropocene, Ecocentricism

Donyi-Polo and Deep Ecology: A Select Reading of Mamang Dai’s Midsummer Survival Lyrics

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Sukla Singha

Research Scholar, Department of English, Tripura University, Tripura, India, ORCID ID:  0000-0003-4948-7297, Email:  shukla.singha85@gmail.com

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s18n2

Abstract

The Adis of Arunachal Pradesh consider everything coming from nature as sacred and living. As opposed to the Christian theological teachings that regard humans as the conqueror of everything else on earth, in the Adi worldview, human beings do not occupy the center stage. Instead, the Adis believe in the intrinsic worth of all beings – both human and nonhuman, which exist on earth, as reflected in the Adi philosophy of ‘Donyi-Polo.’This paper attempts to study select poems from Mamang Dai’s book of poems Midsummer Survival Lyrics (2014) in the light of the philosophy of Donyi Polo. It also attempts to link this Adi worldview to the ecosophy of Arne Naess popularly known as ‘Deep Ecology.’

Keywords: Donyi-Polo, Deep Ecology, Ecosophy, Human, Nonhuman

Retracing Deep Ecology in the reorientation of Naga identity with special reference to the select works of Easterine Kire Iralu

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Subhra Roy

Research Scholar, Department of English, Tripura University.  E-mail: suvizimu@gmail.com

  Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n5

Abstract

The Naga myth of origin underscores the co-existence of and the interconnectivity between the human and the natural world. It is believed that the Nagas once lived in Makhel and a tree stands there as the witness and symbol of Naga origin and unity. The Angami Nagas used to believe that before their dispersal to different parts of the world, three monoliths were erected at Makhrai-Rabu, and these structures represent the Tiger, the Man and the Spirit which stand for the flora and fauna, the human society and the spirit world. With the fall of the first monolith the destruction of the world is initiated and with the fall of the last one the earth witnesses complete doom. It has been reported that only one of these monoliths is standing erect, and it would not be too naive to say that it reminds us of the impending doom that perhaps has already been previewed in the form of natural disasters and other life threatening diseases. In the Naga cultural milieu, nature existed as an independent entity that breathed life into Naga myths, folklores and way of life. In short, it used to define the identity of the primordial Nagas, until their animist world view was replaced by that of Christianity. It was followed by the Indo-Naga conflict, and the Nagas were soon left with confused identities and crises that ran deep into their psyche. Easterine Kire Iralu, the author from Nagaland, tries to reorient the Naga identity by reclaiming the age-old myths and rituals.She tries to retrace the inherent Naga faith in deep ecology that gives equal importance to the distinct parts of the ecosystem that function as a whole.

 Keywords: co-existence, monoliths, ecosystem, Christianity, identity, deep ecology

Tragedy and Ecophobia: A Study of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and J.M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea

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Thakurdas Jana

State Aided College Teacher-I, Department of English, Bhatter College, Dantan, E-mail: thakurdas0901@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s10n7

 Abstract

Terry Eagleton’s humorous question of “how a tragedy differs from a congress of global warming” echoes the tragic and traumatic life of human beings facing increasing violence of nature. In a tragedy, the protagonist does not have biophilia as conceptualized by Edward O. Wilson to explain the innate tendency of human beings to find connections with nature and other forms of life, rather experience with themselves of an ecophobia, ‘antipathy towards nature’ as defined by Simon C. Estok. In a tragedy, “the unfathomable agencies of Nature”, to Eagleton, create ecophobia among the characters of tragedies written in most of the periods of literature. It is experienced in a Renaissance tragedy Macbeth by the Bard of Avon with the appearance of ‘nature’s mischief’ as well as in a modern tragedy Riders to the Sea by J.M. Synge with the destructive sea devouring Maurya’s five sons, husband, and husband’s father creating an antipathy towards nature as shown in Macbeth’s fear of the ‘unruly’ and ‘rough’ night and the ambiguous movement of the Brinamwood, and Maurya’s desperate request to resist Bartley to travel by sea to the Galway fair. Their ecophobia has created an unhinged personality among them. With all these perspectives this paper aims to re-establish a connection between ecophobia and tragedy and examine how ecophobia has been internalized among the characters of the aforementioned play.

 Keywords: ecophobia, biophilia, tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare, Riders to the Sea, J.M.Synge

Climate Change in India: A Wakeup Call from Bollywood

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Manvi Sharma1 & Ajay K. Chaubey2

1Research Scholar(English, National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand, E-mail- manvi.sharma4779@gmail.com, ORCID ID 0000-0003-2708-4403

2Assistant Professor-I (English, National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand, E-mail- kcajay79@nituk.ac.in, ORCID ID 0000-0002-6413-798

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s10n2

Abstract

Amidst Bollywood’s romanticized landscapes and grandeur settings, depiction of the flora and fauna, roaring rivers and drought prone lands, is difficult to locate. But the new millennium has witnessed some new generation filmmakers, sensitized towards the ecological concerns, thus marking a shift from the illustration of idealised landscapes to the representation of nature’s wrath. Since, cinema in India, has a deep-rooted impact on the masses, these creators employ films as tools to sensitize the population towards the climate change threat which though as perilous as the COVID-19 crisis, is often ignored by a significant amount of population. Dawning upon themselves the responsibility of environmental awakening, Nila Madhab Panda and Abhishek Kapoor highlight in their movies, Kadvi Hawa(2017) and Kedarnath(2018), respectively, the horrors of human callousness, leading to drastic change in Climatic condition in India. Panda’s Kadavi Hawa, dealing with non-repayment of loans followed by suicides, portrays the heart-wrenching imagery of environmental degradation and Climate change that has rendered the Village of Mahua, arid and infertile. Kapoor’s Kedarnath on the other hand, appeals for action through horrifying imagery of the catastrophic floods that disrupted the holy town of Kedarnath, in 2013. Through a detailed analysis of the aforementioned visual portrayals, this article aims to emphasise as to how Films can play an important role in effectively addressing dealing with the issues related to Climate. Further, the rationale of this paper is to underscore the possibility of more such storylines, as a tool towards effective engagement and levitation of conscience.

Keywords: Climate Change, Cultural Studies, Bollywood, Films, Eco-criticism etc

“In the mountains, we are like prisoners”: Kalinggawasan as Indigenous Freedom of the Mamanwa of Basey, Samar

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Apple Jane Molabola1, Allan Abiera2, & Jan Gresil Kahambing3

1 Professional Education Unit, Leyte Normal University, ORCID: 0000-0002-4568-9038

2 Social Science Unit, Leyte Normal University, ORCID: 0000-0002-8043-8832

3 Social Science Unit, Leyte Normal University, vince_jb7@hotmail.com, ORCID: 0000-0002-4258-0563

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s4n1 

Abstract

The Lumad struggle in the Philippines, embodied in its various indigenous peoples (IPs), is still situated and differentiated from modern understandings of their plight. Agamben notes that the notion of ‘people’ is always political and is inherent in its underlying poverty, disinheritance, and exclusion. As such, the struggle is a struggle that concerns a progression of freedom from these conditions. Going over such conditions means that one shifts the focus from the socio-political and eventually reveals the ontological facet of such knowledge to reveal the epistemic formation of the truth of their experience. It is then the concern of this paper to expose the concept of freedom as a vital indigenous knowledge from the Mamanwa of Basey, Samar. Using philosophical sagacity as a valid indigenous method, we interview ConchingCabadungga, one of the elders of the tribe, to help us understand how the Mamanwa conceive freedom in the various ways it may be specifically and geographically positioned apart from other indigenous studies. The paper contextualizes the diasporic element and the futuristic component of such freedom within the trajectory of liberation. The Mamanwa subverts the conception of freedom as a form of return to old ways and radically informs of a new way of seeing them as a ‘people.’ It supports recent studies on their literature that recommend the development of their livelihood rather than a formulaic solution of sending them back to where they were. The settlement in Basey changes their identification as a ‘forest people’ into a more radical identity.

Keywords: Mamanwa, Kalinggawasan, Indigenous, Freedom, Basey, Sagacity

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