Environmental Humanities in India: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

The Environmental Humanities, or EH, is 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 theatre. Practitioners of this markedly integrative field aim to address and, even, 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. Recent developments in the Environmental Humanities foreground its topicality as scholar-activists-artists from a wide range of disciplines turn increasingly to human-nature relational issues in the Anthropocene epoch. As a discrete field, EH has emerged principally from North American, European and Australian academic institutions and, more specifically, from English, history, geography and anthropology departments. Although the Environmental Humanities has been relatively slow to gain traction in South Asia, the overall momentum towards transdisciplinary approaches to ecology and sustainability is intensifying in India. This contributed volume highlights current research in the Environmental Humanities in India through four thematic sections: (i) Indigenous Perspectives: Conservation, Spirituality and Language; (ii) Theoretical Grounding: Education, Law and Ethics; (iii) Literary Formulations: Memoir, Parable and Storyworlds; (iv) Popular Narratives: Myth, Travel and Music.