Environmental Humanities in India
Singapore: Springer (2025), x, 234 pp.
"This open access book offers an introduction to the field of the environmental humanities in India. The environmental humanities, often referred to as ‘EH’, are a multifaceted, relatively new, and swiftly evolving field of scholarship that integrates the theories and approaches of various disciplines - from anthropology, art, communications, cultural studies, philosophy and ecology to history, literature, media, music, performance, politics, sociology, theology and theater. Practitioners of this considerably integrative and widely ranging field aim to address and, in certain cases, confront today's urgent ecological and cultural challenges, namely climate change, urban sustainability, biodiversity conservation, species decline, energy policy, the exigencies of the Anthropocene, environmental activism, and Indigenous peoples' justice. Although the environmental humanities have been relatively slow to gain traction in South Asia, an increasing momentum towards transdisciplinary approaches to ecology and sustainability is palpable in India. Comprising fourteen chapters, this contributed volume is the first major publication to call attention to current work in the environmental humanities in India. The volume foregrounds particular ecohumanist theories and methodologies evolving from Indian biocultural contexts. Towards this aim, the book consists of four thematic sections: Indigenous Perspectives: Conservation, Spirituality, and Language; Theoretical Grounding: Education, Law, and Ethics; Literary Formulations: Memoir, Parable, and Storyworlds; and Popular Narratives: Myth, Travel, and Music." (Publisher description)
1 Environmental Humanities in India: An Interdisciplinary Approach / Debajyoti Biswas, 1
PART I. INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES: CONSERVATION AND SPIRITUALITY
2 Indigenous Native Epistemology as a Model in Environmental Humanities in India / Stefano Beggiora, 15
3 The Environment in Hindu Consciousness: Revisiting the Sacred Texts / Susheel Kumar Sharma and Debajyoti Biswas, 33
4 Cultural Practices and Indigenous Traditions of the Garo and Bodo: Reinterpreting ‘Man-Nature’ Convergences in Wangala and Bathou / Namrata Pathak and Rustam Brahma, 49
5 Indigenous Nature Conservation in Meghalaya: Environmental and Religious Dimensions of Tribal Land Ownership Among the Khasi Community / Srijani Bhattacharjee, 69
PART II. THEORETICAL GROUNDING: EDUCATION, LAW, AND ETHICS
6 Philosophy for Environmental Policy and Law / Mohan Parasain, 87
7 Derangement in Ecological Consciousness Today / Kaushani Mondal, 103
PART III. LITERARY FORMULATIONS: MEMOIR, PARABLE, AND STORYWORLDS
8 Multispecies Conviviality, Bioregionalism, and Vegetal Politics in Kodagu, India / Subarna De, 119
9 “When the Black Half of the Kunni Seed Whitens”: Plant-Lore and the Plantationocene in Ambikasuthan Mangad’s Swarga / Varna Venugopal and Swarnalatha Rangarajan, 139
10 Mourning the Loss of Mother Earth: Examining Human-Water Interrelationships in Akkineni Kutumbarao’s Softly Dies a Lake / Somasree Sarkar, 157
11 Constructing Ecotopian Space as a Protest Against the Urban Worldview in Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay’s Literary Oeuvre / Indrajit Mukherjee, 173
PART IV. POPULAR NARRATIVES: MYTH, TRAVEL, AND MUSIC
12 Connecting and Creating Narratives: Interrogating Myth, Legends, and the Anthropocene in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island / Paddaja Roy, 189
13 Amitav Ghosh’s Storyworlds for Environmental Dwelling: Multimodal Iterations and Performativity in/of Jungle Nama: A Story of the Sundarban / Ashwarya Samkaria, 203
14 The Anthropocene in South Asian Popular Music: A Critical Examination of Papon’s “Waise Hi Rehna, Waise Hi Behna” Through an Ecomusicological Lens / Manvi Sharma, Ajay K Chaubey, and Surendra Singh, 219
PART I. INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES: CONSERVATION AND SPIRITUALITY
2 Indigenous Native Epistemology as a Model in Environmental Humanities in India / Stefano Beggiora, 15
3 The Environment in Hindu Consciousness: Revisiting the Sacred Texts / Susheel Kumar Sharma and Debajyoti Biswas, 33
4 Cultural Practices and Indigenous Traditions of the Garo and Bodo: Reinterpreting ‘Man-Nature’ Convergences in Wangala and Bathou / Namrata Pathak and Rustam Brahma, 49
5 Indigenous Nature Conservation in Meghalaya: Environmental and Religious Dimensions of Tribal Land Ownership Among the Khasi Community / Srijani Bhattacharjee, 69
PART II. THEORETICAL GROUNDING: EDUCATION, LAW, AND ETHICS
6 Philosophy for Environmental Policy and Law / Mohan Parasain, 87
7 Derangement in Ecological Consciousness Today / Kaushani Mondal, 103
PART III. LITERARY FORMULATIONS: MEMOIR, PARABLE, AND STORYWORLDS
8 Multispecies Conviviality, Bioregionalism, and Vegetal Politics in Kodagu, India / Subarna De, 119
9 “When the Black Half of the Kunni Seed Whitens”: Plant-Lore and the Plantationocene in Ambikasuthan Mangad’s Swarga / Varna Venugopal and Swarnalatha Rangarajan, 139
10 Mourning the Loss of Mother Earth: Examining Human-Water Interrelationships in Akkineni Kutumbarao’s Softly Dies a Lake / Somasree Sarkar, 157
11 Constructing Ecotopian Space as a Protest Against the Urban Worldview in Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay’s Literary Oeuvre / Indrajit Mukherjee, 173
PART IV. POPULAR NARRATIVES: MYTH, TRAVEL, AND MUSIC
12 Connecting and Creating Narratives: Interrogating Myth, Legends, and the Anthropocene in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island / Paddaja Roy, 189
13 Amitav Ghosh’s Storyworlds for Environmental Dwelling: Multimodal Iterations and Performativity in/of Jungle Nama: A Story of the Sundarban / Ashwarya Samkaria, 203
14 The Anthropocene in South Asian Popular Music: A Critical Examination of Papon’s “Waise Hi Rehna, Waise Hi Behna” Through an Ecomusicological Lens / Manvi Sharma, Ajay K Chaubey, and Surendra Singh, 219
