Environmental Humanities in India

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. The volume is of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates, early career scholars, and more established researchers in the environmental humanities and the allied fields of ecopoetics, ecocriticism, ecomusicology, environmental art, cultural ecology, postcolonial studies, and South Asian studies.

This is an open access book.

Debajyoti Biswas is Associate Professor & Head of the Department of English at Bodoland University. Debajyoti Biswas is an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University and Gauhati University. He teaches Anglophone writings from India’s northeast and Critical Theory to Postgraduate students. His areas of interest include identity, nationalism, environment, and conflict in North East India. His writings have appeared in journals like Asian Ethnicity (T&F), National Identities (T&F), Journal for Cultural Research (T&F), Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (Springer), Journal of International Women's Studies (Bridgewater State University), English: A Journal of English Association (Oxford University Press), Policing (Oxford University Press), South Asian Popular Culture (T&F), Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Nature), Space and Culture, India, and Postcolonial Studies (T&F). He has completed two minor research projects funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and is currently heading an ICSSR-funded Major research project (2024-2026) as a Project Director. He has co-edited two volumes entitled: Nationalism in India and Global Perspectives on Nationalism, published by Routledge. His monograph entitled Anglophone from Northeast India and Women’s Writing is forthcoming from Atlantic Publishers in 2024. He is the managing editor of transcript: An e-Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, published by the Department of English, Bodoland University. 

John Charles Ryan is an international researcher in literary studies, creative writing, and environmental humanities. He is Adjunct Associate Professor at Southern Cross University, Australia, and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Nulungu Institute, University of Notre Dame, Australia. Funded by the Kone Foundation, his current research investigates possibilities for communication and collaboration between people and trees in Northern Finland. Ryan’s books include Environment, Media and Popular Culture in Southeast Asia (2022, Springer, co-edited) and Introduction to the Environmental Humanities (2022, Routledge, co-authored). He is Editor of the journal Plant Perspectives and Managing Co-Editor of The Trumpeter. In 2023–24, he undertook visiting fellowships in China, India, Indonesia, Finland, and Thailand. For more information, see www.johncharlesryan.com