24th International MELOW Conference on ‘Literature and Ecology’ 2024 organized at SRM University, Delhi-NCR

Contributing to the global dialogue on environmentalism, climate change, and sustainability, the Department of English at SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Sonipat, hosted a two-day international conference on ‘Literature and Ecology’ from 2 to 3 March 2024. The conference was organized under the aegis of the prestigious MELOW (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World) banner in the hybrid mode.

In an era marked by escalating environmental concerns and a pressing need for sustainable coexistence with the natural world, the study of literature through the lens of ecology has gained significance. The two-day conference witnessed the participation of around 45 paper presenters including 18 international scholars from Algeria, France, USA, Korea, Greece, Spain, and many more. Chairing the various sessions were academic stalwarts like Professors Anil Raina from Panjab University, Manpreet Kang from Indraprastha University, Roshan Lal Sharma from Central University of HP, Sharmila Narayan of Christ University in Bangalore, and Nivedita Misra from Trinidad-Tobago.

The keynote address was delivered by Prof. T. Ravichandran from IIT Kanpur on the significance of human and non-human interaction from the environmental perspective, through his address The Thing Out There That Was Always in Us: How Literature Mediates and Materializes through the Human and the Nonhuman Interaction. Through this keynote address, Prof. Ravichandran gave the audience a feel of literary writings and ecocritical readings that tell us how we have always been ecologically disposed in our thinking and representations if only we care to remove the cultural veil and rupture its contours.   He chose illustrative examples from Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Steinbeck, Rachel Carson, and Wallace Stevens to prove his point. The Convenor of the conference and Director of Humanities, SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Prof. Manju Jaidka highlighted that the proposed conference was instrumental in providing a platform for diverse academics, researchers, and enthusiasts to contemplate upon concerns related to multiple ecological crises facing our planet today. Dean Academic Affairs and Registrar, SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Prof. Samuel V. Raj welcomed all academicians to the green campus premises and reiterated the significance of environmentalism and literature in contemporary times. Some fundamental concepts that received critical attention from the galaxy of intellectuals during the conference were – Eco-translation, Green Studies, Eco poetics, Eco dramaturgy, and Shanty Town Ecology.
 
SESSION WISE REPORT- DAY 1

The first session for the paper was conducted in the physical mode. The session was chaired by Prof. Anil Raina. In their collaborative paper on Reinstating the Non-human in African Literature: Reading Ben Okri's Every Leaf a Hallelujah as a text on Aesthetics of Proximity, Sharmila Narayana and Hutulu Dasai focused on the novel Every Leaf a Hallelujah within the four dimensions of proximity - multispecies presence, interspecies relationship, distributed agency, and indistinction between human and non-human entities. Lijo George in his paper Post humanist, eco-critical exploration of The Living Mountain: A Fable for Our Times focused on the post-humanist, eco-critical exploration of Amitav Ghosh's seminal work, The Living Mountain: A Fable for our Times. Literature-Science Interface: Futuristic Climatic Solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future by Hem Raj Bansal explored Robinson’s vision to tackle heat waves and climate change by adopting an optimistic approach. Roshan Sharma and Saurav in their joint paper on Spiritual and Transcendental Dimensions of Nature in Select Prose Writings of R.W. Emerson and H.D. Thoreau comparatively examined how Emerson and Thoreau are connected and how profoundly nature informs, influences, and enables their artistic endeavours. The last paper for the session on Language of Interconnectedness: Mamang Dai’s River Poems as a Nexus of Artistic Imagination and Ecological Consciousness was presented by Mani Dixit who delved into Mamang Dai’s River Poems highlighting how nature transcends its conventional status as a mere backdrop and emerges as a dynamic character and metaphor.

The second session for Day 1 commenced in the offline mode with a paper presentation by Nasser Dasht Peyman on Greening the Stage: Eco-theater and Environmental Justice in Henrik Ibsen's Plays. The study conducted a thorough analysis of Ibsen’s play to uncover Ibsen's portrayal of ecological concerns, examining how the characters, plots, and symbolism contribute to his critique of environmental injustices. Prabha Zacarias in Ecological Violence and the Anthropocene Imaginary: Exploring the local planetary experience of the Western Ghats through Sheela Tomy’s Valli looked into the complex interplay of social, political, and ecological violence within the Western Ghats. In her paper on Intersections of Race, Identity and the Natural World: A Study of Nezhukumatathil’s World of Wonders, Navdeep Kahol unraveled the beauty and diversity of life on earth as seen by the author evoking feelings of wonder and gratitude. The session was chaired by Prof. Manpreet Kang.

The third session for the day, chaired by Prof. Sharmila Narayan was held in the physical mode. The first paper for this session was A Graphic Speculation on the Global Rise in Seas and Oceans by Arusharko Banerjee.  The paper analyzed the graphic novel Global (2023) using the established theoretical perspective of blue ecology. The next paper authored by Neeraj Pijar, From Glamour to Green: Exploring Cinematic Responses to Climate Change in Bollywood, analyzed the films Hawa (2017) and Kedarnath (2018) and shed light on how the films adopt the role of environmental stewards to depict the consequences of human apathy leading to significant climatic changes in India. Tanupriya’s paper Ecological Imbalances and Post-Apocalyptic Effects: Reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road examined the post-apocalyptic narrative presented in Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. By highlighting the intersection of environmental and social justice at local, national, and global levels, the paper Unravelling Environmental Injustice in Anuradha Sarma Pujari’s Iyat Ekhon Aranya Asil by Bandana Mili emphasizes the complex interplay involving encroachers, marginalized communities and their experiences, and the state by weaving them with environmental concerns and postcolonial perspectives in Assam. Nallventhan P. in his Shanty Town Ecology in the Reading of Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream analyzes Fever Dream through the lens of material ecocriticism, exposing the significance of specific types of ‘objects’ called hyper objects (Timothy Morton), to envision planetary health in the time of global warming.

The last session for day one chaired by Nivedita Mishra, was conducted as Online Session A. Ecocritical Explorations in Moroccan Literature: Nature, Culture, and Environmental Consciousness by Akfour Omar undertook an ecocritical examination of Moroccan literature, probing the intricate relationships between nature, culture, and environmental consciousness within the context of the country's rich literary landscape. Atreyee Chakraborty in Problematising Indigenous Eco-Masculinity Through Easterine Kire’s Sky is My Father explores the culture of the indigenous Angami society of Nagaland through an analysis of Easterine Kire’s novel Sky is My Father. In Nature's Retribution: Enacting Environmental Revenge in Olga Tokarczuk's ‘Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead’, Margot Machado proposed an eco-critical analysis of Olga Tokarczuk's "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead," focusing on how the novel personifies nature and utilizes it as a vehicle for social commentary and the exploration of environmental revenge. In an age where environmental consciousness is paramount, wordless books emerge as powerful tools in the realm of ecocriticism, asserted Artemis Papailia in her study, Visual Voices: Wordless Narratives in Ecological Discourse. Soumia Bentahar in her paper An Ecocritical Reading of Abraham Verghese’s Politicization of Nature as an Anticolonial Agent The Covenant of Water, performs an ecocritical reading of the novel to demonstrate how Verghese’s fictional India politicizes nature, and why a nonhuman agent is endowed with such authority.

SESSION WISE REPORT- DAY 2

The second day of ‘Literature and Ecology’ saw the participation of 18 presenters spread over 4 sessions- both in the online and offline mode.

Online session B was chaired by Prof. T. Ravichandran. The paper In Search of an Ecology of Belonging: Tracing a Co-Existential Cartography in Anita Sethi’s I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain, presented by Sanghamitra Dalal argued that Sethi’s memoir charts a cartography of an ecology of belonging. Jiawen Kacey through her paper Nature in Translation: Exploring Depictions and Transformations in Ecological Themes examined the depiction of nature in translated works, with a specific focus on the theme of nature and ecological concerns. In her paper Returning to Nature: An Eco-Feminist Analysis of The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Sreelakhmi PS dwells into the intricate measures taken by the female protagonist to achieve one’s autonomy by privileging nature and thereby condemns the practice of meat-eating. Returning to the Root as Quietude (Jing)”: Plant Voice and the Vegetal Event of Quieting in Wang Wei’s Poetry by Perkus C. Leung endeavoured to reconceptualize the relation between plants and silence in poems by Wang Wei, the “Poet-Buddha” in the Tang dynasty. Jennifer Ortuosto’s work on Communicating Ecological Advocacy: ‘Eco-Essays’ as a Tool for Ecological Literacy offered insights into the potential for literature and storytelling to jumpstart environmental activism through environmental education.

The next session was carried out in the offline mode, chaired by Dr. Manpreet Kang. Sacred Spirituality: A Journey into Myth, Folklore, and Eco-consciousness of Lepchas in Sikkim, written by Archana Arul focused on a comprehensive textual analysis of two specific folktales that elucidate the origin narratives of the Lepcha community. Amandeep Kour uncovered the growing disconnect of humans from the natural world by acknowledging the contribution of Eliot through the prism of spirituality in her analysis Spirituality: The Deep Ecology in the Poetry of T. S. Eliot. Sufiya Pathan’s Conjunctions between eco-criticism and post-colonialism: The case of Kantara brings forth the frustrations of communities attempting to protect their traditions, which in turn are deeply rooted in their natural spaces, against a State driven by colonial agendas of social reform and homogenization.

Session V of the conference progressed in the offline mode. The session was chaired by Prof. Anil Raina. In her paper, Nature and the Non-Human World in Bengali Juvenile Literature by Rabindranath Tagore, Debasmita Das attempted an ecocritical study of Tagore’s work for children and young adults. Jayashree Borah’s study Nature as Witness to Violence and Trauma in Select Assamese Literature examined the works of two authors from Assam as having employed the metaphor of nature to convey the horrors of human brutality as well as immense suffering. Louis Erdrich's Future Home of the Living God: A Post-Humanistic Study by Arpita Sawhney examined the blurred boundaries between human and non-human entities. Attempting to exhibit the significant contribution of Divakaruni’s fiction in putting forth a non-anthropocentric paradigm, Shivangi presented her paper on Interface of Gender and Nature: Celebrating Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Ecofeminist Ardour.

Online session C chaired by Prof. Roshan Lal Sharma was the last session for the concluding day. Nivedita Mishra in her paper V. S. Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival: A Postcolonial Critique analyzed V. S. Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival as a text that explores the role of language in human interaction with nature. In her paper The Image of Chernobyl in Western graphic narratives, Tetiana Ostapchuk investigated Western comics culture and demonstrated how the accents were placed and re-placed on the Chernobyl explosion within 37 years. Thomas Storey in his work Digital Natures in the Ecopoetry of Jorie Graham elaborated on the notion of what contemporary ecopoetics can be, what it can offer to readers, and where it fails to live up to the promise of a real engagement with ecological issues and entities. Alex Tischer in his analysis An Ecophobic Transfer: Alex Garland’s Regressive Film Adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, pointed towards the regressive climate fiction film as opposed to the groundbreaking work of the novel. The Cold Desolate Heart: Masculinity and Science in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, by Korryn Plantenberg, focused on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that promoted a radical intimacy with the natural world that directly challenged contemporary scientific methods and liberal humanism. The last paper presentation of the day “Merely a dweller in the garden:” An Ecopoetics of Salubrity in the Prose of W. G. Sebald by Noah Gallego conducted a close analysis of the role of gardens in Sebald’s prose (1995-2001) and argues that because of their rehabilitative properties, he cultivates an ecopoetics of salubrity.

The conference concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof Roshan Lal Sharma, Jt. Secretary, MELOW.

The conference was divided into eight sessions- both online and offline-for smooth conduction.

The Convenor of the conference and Director of Humanities, SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Prof. Manju Jaidka highlighted that the proposed conference was instrumental in providing a platform for diverse academics, researchers, and enthusiasts to contemplate upon concerns related to multiple ecological crises facing our planet today. Dean Academic Affairs and Registrar, SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Prof. Samuel V. Raj welcomed all academicians to the green campus premises and reiterated the significance of environmentalism and literature in contemporary times. Some fundamental concepts that received critical attention from the galaxy of intellectuals during the conference were – Eco-translation, Green Studies, Eco poetics, Eco dramaturgy, and Shanty Town Ecology.  The conference was a remarkable endeavour by the Department of English at SRM University, Delhi-NCR, and MELOW to strengthen the commitment of SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Sonepat, towards the 17 SDGs within and beyond the curriculum.