National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

20th and 21st October 2011

PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
ABSTRACTS

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

20th and 21st October 2011

PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

ABSTRACTS

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see2 Nature that is ours... in

[William Wordsworth (1770 1850)]

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

CONFERENCE Committee:

Convener: Prof. Murali Sivaramakrishnan Coordinators: Dr Clement Lourdes, Dr T Marx Treasurer: Dr K. Reshmi
Committee Members:

Dr Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, Dr.H Kalpana, Dr. Lakhimai Mili, Dr.Binu Zachariah Dr.Visakha Devi, Dr.Ujjwal Jana

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Ecocriticism has evolved into a full-fledged theory over the past two decades. Its simple, easy-to-understand, yet sufficiently complex theoretical positions, have been foregrounded and debated across regional, national and international forums. A long time ago even derogated as mere sentimental nature writing, this critical practice has grown much beyond its amateur position in the theoretical gallery of the post-deconstructive intellectual depression into a full-fledged method of critical practice, creating its own aesthetic, ethical, social and political spaces. However, for the most, in our part of the world this has been practiced in isolation and amidst small coteries, and sometimes often misconstrued, resorted to, and even evoked for the wrong reasons inadvertently. Nevertheless, with the founding and establishment of ASLE India, this forum has been consistently expanding and becoming more integrated diversifying into new directions with renewed impetus. Dialogic and non-deterministic, this critical practice has now come into its own maturitythis situation calls for a national conference of the proposed kind. This conference is intended to bring together intellectuals, academics, research scholars and teachers from across India to debate and deliberate on its new bearings and future prospects. Explorations in and through new texts and renewed contexts are the major highlights. Papers and panels are organised under the following broad areas: Ecocritical theoriestheir relevance and continuity Eco feminism Ecology and the region Energy and earth The Eco in Economics The Literature of Nature Regional focus on ecological theories

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

The Ground beneath Our Feet: New Bearings in Ecocriticism Prof. Murali Sivaramakrishnan Professor and Head, Department of English Pondicherry University, Pondicherry The development of an ecologically sensitive critical thinking is among the most recent advances to have contributed significantly to the field of literary and aesthetic theory. This has been ushered in through a historically necessitated recognition that Nature as a living concept and existential being is intrinsically valuable in itself and not as merely contingent on the humans being. The rapid growth and development of ecology as a science and the corresponding emergence of ecologically sensitive critical theories in the social sciences and humanities is a propitious feature of this very idea. Nature is not merely there for the taking and neither is her resource unending: the earlier view of earth as replete with sources for human evolution and expansion would ring merely hollow notes in the present. This definitely has political, economic, literary and aesthetic implications. In the rapidly expanding field of theory these ideas of silencing and domination of nature have left lasting impacts: more so in the wake of post-structuralism and deconstruction in the human sciences. My lecture would be an overview of a new direction in critical thinking that would explore the historical and theoretical contexts of this nexus while attempting to invoke certain conceptual issues and the cultural and aesthetic dimensions of the environment. The ground beneath our feet is shrinking; the earth as we have understood it thus far is showing signs of decay. We are faced with crises in a hitherto unimagined scalewhat are the literary and aesthetic connotations of this?

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Writing an Era of Tribal Repression: Mahasweta Devis Chotti Munda and his Arrow Anu T Asokan Research Scholar Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. This paper undertakes to examine the marginalised presences in Mahasweta Devis fiction using an ecocritical lens. Cheryll Glotfelty in The Ecocriticism Reader (1996) defines ecocriticism, as the study of relationship between literature and environment (xviii). According to Barry Commoners first law of ecology, everything is connected to everything else. Therefore, literature does not merely revolve around the concept of the material world but it also plays an important role in representing the interaction between land, humans and culture. Ancient Indian concepts personified the land and earth as a mother who is a source of nourishment and plenitude for her children, the humans and the non-human others. Man and earth were bound together in a relationship of respect and integrity by the law of Rita which balanced everything in the universe from the macrocosm to the microcosm. This law was seen as dharma, an ethical goal, the violation of which would cause great imbalances in the ecological world. Therefore in this paradigm land was seen as sacred living entity and not as a mere resource. However, the changing times brought about changes in this concept with humans becoming relentless exploiters of the land. However, tribal cultures retain the strong bond with the land and accord intrinsic value to it. Mahasweta Devi in her novel Chotti Munda and his Arrow (1980) illustrates how the environment as well as the tribals and the poor constitute the subaltern in the modernising paradigms of development. The power discourses of globalisation play a significant role in the degradation and the destruction of the environment and the tribals. As a social activist who has done tremendous work for the tribal community, Mahasweta Devi endeavours to bring the same energy to her writing by giving a voice to the voiceless. Her novel, Chotti Munda and his Arrow illustrates the violent tribal struggle against the established order. The paper focuses on Mahasweta Devis use of the strategy of historical discourse in the novel, for highlighting the significance of nature being represented as the contested space of power struggle between the tribal and the non-tribal mainstream. She also discusses the tribal struggle-taking place in Eastern India by tracing its beginning from the legend of Birsa Munda to Chotti Munda, the famous archer.

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Practicing Deep Ecology in Everyday Life: Towards a Theory of Inclusiveness Dr. Amarjeet Nayak, Assistant Professor in English, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, IET (DAVV) Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore - 452017, Madhya Pradesh, India. Unlike the postcolonial studies and the subaltern studies, in which the postcolonial and the subaltern can voice themselves without taking recourse in any mediation, is there a possibility of a similarly unmediated voicing of the subject in eco-criticism? Can one see ecocriticism as a theory of inclusiveness? Is it possible to practice deep ecology in ones everyday life? By drawing insights from some of the major philosophers and thinkers such as Morleau Ponty, Heidegger and Timothy Morton, I shall try to examine the above-mentioned questions and explore if deep ecology involves some sort of transcendence and the nature of that transcendence, i.e. whether its only in the realm of philosophical abstraction or also at the level of the lived experience. In this paper, it will be my endeavour to explore the differences between eco-criticism and other theories that privilege the other and the fallacy in the quest for any theory that is unmediated. Furthermore, this paper will attempt to appropriate Gayatri Spivacks notion of privilege as a loss in the context of deep ecology for a more humane and inclusive approach to this theory that does not push human beings to the periphery while giving centre stage to nature.

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Text and Texture in Eco-criticism: An Outline of J.M. Coetzees Life and Times of Michael K Mir Nurul Islam, M.Phil EFL University. Hyderabad. After The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, The Environmental Imagination, The Song of the Earth, The ISLE Reader, Ecocriticism is not a new name. But there lies a gap between practice and preaching. As a potential medium of consciousness change its our duty to strengthen it .The text and texture are the sole root of Ecocriticism where the text is a tree and its narrative style, use of metaphor, characterization, personae and canonicity are the branches. Although any text can be analysed ecocritially, including many works of eco-fiction but often the problem lies in analysis. As a popular genre, ecofiction engages a wide variety of readers and it invokes the imagination which engages people intellectually and emotionally, providing them greater personal stake in the text itself, and making them more precautionary. So what are the tools to evaluate a text where most of its earlier criticism takes us to other issues ignoring the earth where we are living? On this following basis this paper will try to define text and texture in Ecocriticism with an outline of J.M. Coetzees Life and Times of Michael K. I will try to argue the ecocritical texture of the text which is overlooked in earlier criticism. Moreover, I will argue that Coetzee transgressed the geographical boundaries and sketches an alternative ethical dimension against our anthropocentric attitude. His characters are not specifically rooted in history but they have a history of their own. This will be classified in four sections: 1) Text and texture, 2) K as a metaphor 3) Ks nostalgic sustainability, and 4) Eat or not eat.

Green politics-Repercussions and Refugees analysis of The Hungry Tide

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Tanveer Hasan The paper intends to explore the dichotomy present between the politics of conservation and development. It is in the name of development or in the guise of conservation that most of our policies come into a confrontation with nature. The consequent arguments bring out the essential principles (hidden agendas) of Green politics. With Amitav Ghoshs The Hungry Tide as the backdrop this paper shall probe into the actions of a government and the reactions of a refugee settlement regarding the same issue. This paper shall employ theories such as Deep ecology and Anthropocentrism for the construct of the argument and will also bring in views of writers such as Arne Naess, Timothy Morton, David Harvey, James Lovelock and others. It comes as a surprise that the principles of deep ecology were applied in West Bengal in the year 1979 itself, not in spirit but to achieve immoral goals which were anti human. The eviction and killing of the refugees on the island 'Marichjhapi' had the philosophy of pro ecology as its motif. This brutal act of eviction is captured by a journalist in its essence, "when tigers became citizens and people became Tiger food". Kusum the survivor and martyr of this settlement exclaims, "this island has to be saved for its trees, it has to be saved for its animals it is a part of a reserve forest, it belongs to a project to save tigers Who are these people, I wondered, who love animals so much that they are willing to kill us for them?" The paper shall strive to answer questions such as, Should Green Politics be at the cost of humans? Or should nature be sacrificed? Is there no way two faces of the same universe progress in tandem?

Who is a better friend -Birds or their Hunter? An Ecofeminist reading of Sarah Orne Jewetts A White Heron
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Jubimol.K.G Research Scholar Area of Study- Ecofeminism (American Women's Fiction) Sree Sankara University of Sanskrit Kalady Have you ever thought why we always call Mother Earth not Father Earth? Is it only a simple personification on its life giving and nurturing aspects by embodying it in the form of a mother? Or will it suggest any other connection between women and nature? Women are frequently given natural traits or are often associated with the earth. Ancient mythologies, our language and literature are full of such associations. All these increased awareness of these associations and connections between women and nature give rise to Ecofeminism- a blend of Environmentalism and Feminism. Ecofeminism insists that the oppression of women and degradation of nature in patriarchal/capitalist society are conceptually and historically linked. The famous Ecofeminist philosopher, Karren J.Waren in her essay Feminism and Ecology: Making Connections, argues that feminist should pay attention to environmental issues and ecological interdependencies, and in the same way environmentalists should also pay attention to the connections among ecological degradation, sexism, and other forms of social oppression. Ecofeminism studies the relationship of literature with social and physical environment, asking how women and nature are constructed in fictional discourses. It emphasizes how the traditional representation of nature with women often shows the land as innocent, feminine and suitable for exploitation. The nineteenth century English and American literature is a rich area for this type of study. American women writers like Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about the local landscapes as an integral part of the daily life. Her short story A White Heron is an excellent example. This study Who is a better friend -Birds or their Hunter? An Ecofeminist reading of Sarah Orne Jewetts A White Heron, will disclose the following ecofeminist ideas: 1. The attitudes towards gender and environment and the treatment of both. 2. The different levels of domination (racism, sexism, speciecism) along with environmental degradation. 3. How women and nature are seen as commodifiable objects for fun and profit. 4. How the representation of landscape in the story helps to construct personal, social and cultural identities. 5. The representation of men, women and nature within the context resulting from a conflict between the rural and urban. Though this work is written long before Ecofeminism took hold, it proves itself as an early work in the ecofeminist thought by embracing environmentalist ideas and gender issues. It represents earth as the sustainer of human life and relationships and celebrates womens potential to reform the wrong environmental attitudes because of her association with earth.

An Eco Economic Analysis of Automobile Pollution Social Cost and Pricing (With Reference to Tamil Nadu)

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

First Author:

Dr. N. P. Hariharan., Professor and Division Leader of Economics, School of Social Science and Languages, VIT University, Vellore.

Second Author:

G. Raja Rajeswari, Assistant Professor, School of Social Science and Languages, VIT University, Vellore.

The Automobile Industry is known for air pollution and noise pollution. After 1991, the Era of Globalization, the number of automobile vehicles (two and three wheelers, cars, trucks and multi-axis vehicles) has increased. The average paying capacity of Indians has also gone up due to increase in earnings through employment in MNCs and also due to change in culture, place of domicile and employment and change in the pattern of expenditure. The increase in number of automobile vehicles coupled with increase in frequency of travel has resulted in greater pollution by the automobiles. Some of the auto manufacturers have successfully designed eco friendly vehicles; but few other auto manufacturers are unable to meet the basic ecology requirements. The present paper analyses on three types of automobile pollution namely: air pollution, noise pollution and stress on human eye. Black smoke emissions from the automobile result in air pollution, the blaring horns result in noise pollution and glaring lights effect eye sights. The present public authorities engaged in controlling pollution have not succeeded in their task. The vehicles causing pollution should be asked to pay a price equal to social disturbances it causes. Social costing of the pollution may be able to provide much required answer for Automobile Pollution.

Eco economics: a study of NHAI Tamil Nadu Prof. N.P. Hariharan (Professor of Economics) S. Siva Kumar (Assistant Professor of Economics)
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

VIT university, Vellore The study on Eco Economics is so vital in the present world. As the requirement of people is ever increasing for various goods and services, kind of unwanted or unethical activities are done relating to natural factors. The study on eco economics is trying to highlight on the issue relating to destruction of natural resources in our country with the aim of providing a sophisticated services to the people. As the natural resources have its own value, spoiling of those will not fetch any price to those resources. For laying of National Highway (NH) roads in Tamil Nadu, various natural resources are destroyed. The precious herbals, trees, minerals, water storages etc., are spoiled for providing services to the road users. The length of National Highways in Tamil Nadu at the time of formation of National Highways Wing in 1971 was 1816 Kms. Till 1991; the total length of National Highways in Tamil Nadu was only 1998 Kms. The total Length of National Highways network has increased from 1998 kms in 1991 to 4873 kms in 2011. Tamil Nadu Government plays a vital role in acquiring land for the completion of Projects by National Highways Authority of India. Since formation of NHAI and up to March 2006, 709 hectares of land has been acquired and handed over to NHAI for projects. Tamil Nadu Government has paid special attention to land acquisition and during the period from April 2006 to December 2010, 7301 hectares of land has been acquired and handed over to NHAI for projects. The spoiling of natural resources in various forms has its ill effect on human being in the form of non availability of fresh air, reduction of water contents, exhausting of natural resources for the future generation. So it is to be priced. The paper attempts to study on the effect on the construction of NH constructions, water bodies, trees and agricultural lands. The extent of cost involves should be able to take into account, not only the account cost but also the ecological cost.

Ecological Movements and the Involvement of Women Dr Usha V.T Head

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Centre for Womens Studies Pondicherry University Pondicherry The direct involvement of women in social and public protests has often been a matter of serious concern on account of many impediments, societal and otherwise. However, a closer look at ecological movements reveals that the involvement of women herein is spontaneous and genuine. Perhaps, the personal becomes the political in such cases. This paper attempts to make a close analysis of ecological movements and in particular the ecofeminist movements with a view to find the connections between sexism and the domination of the land and its inhabitants. The unequal relations between man and women in society and the exploitations therein find similar echoes in the human-nature relations. The green movements in India and elsewhere reflect this major trend. As long back as 1974, the term ecofeminism, first used by Franoise d'Eaubonne came into use and has initiated studies into common territory. In 1975, Rosemary Radford Ruether wrote in New Woman/New Earth that women "must unite the demands of the women's movement with those of the ecological movements to envision a radical reshaping of the basic socioeconomic relations and the underlying values of this society." These theoretical directions help in the study of ecofeminist movements. The connections between the theoretical and what some critics may call idealistic(Janet Biehl) with the actual can be seen in these movements, wherein there is a natural and spontaneous outburst to curb the patriarchal forces that involve in mass destruction. Ecofeminism is about connectedness and wholeness of theory and practice (Ynestra King, 1980). This presentation attempts to explore those involvements and connections by a closer look at these social/ecological justice movements.

Nature vs. Nature; Imperial vs. Subaltern: A Study of Anita Desais Fire on the Mountain and Arundhati Roys The Cost of Living S.Sujaritha Assistant Professor Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Institute of Engineering and Technology
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Karaikal Puducherry.

In India lives of human beings are intrinsic with nature. The teaching of Vedas and Upanishads, which instructs nature as the form of god formats Indian culture and tradition to lay much emphasis on environment. As ecology was seen as an inherent part of spirituality, in India human beings were forbidden to exploit nature. In spite of it, invasion of the nation by different rulers and their influences upon the Indian culture created a big gap between nature and the human beings. Due to it, nature at times joins hands with the imperialists and sometimes with the victim. The hypothesis of the paper is to look at the role of nature as the imperial when it shows its domination upon the subaltern and as the partner of subaltern how it faces the chaos created by the imperials. For this revelation two texts have been chosen for study namely, Anita Desais Fire on the Mountain and Arundhati Roys The Cost of Living. Anita Desais Fire on the Mountain examines how the Indian society, which has emerged as patriarchal, has joined hands with nature in order to dominate women. On the other hand how nature and the poor people suffer under the rules of imperials can be culled out by a close textual analysis of Arundhati Roys The Cost of Living. The paper thus attempts to read the two works in a parallel manner to exhibit the two different roles played by nature in the Indian context.

Effectiveness of the Eco-tourism Brochures. First Author: Madhumathi P Research Associate, School of Social Sciences and Languages, VIT University, Vellore 632014 Tamil Nadu
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Second Author: Dr. N.Ramani Senior Professor, School of Social Sciences and Languages, VIT University, Vellore 632014 Tamil Nadu. The brochures of the eco-tourism contain the well thought-out text that reflects the richness of the Ecology. The Eco-brochure reflects the life of the earth in a micro perspective. An Eco-Brochure is a brief text that describes the history, nature, life, travel in the chosen region of eco-tourism. It displays the pictures of the significant species and habitats that the traveller likely to see in the chosen region of the earth. It highlights the climatic conditions of a place with a graphical picture, which in turn makes the traveller curious to visit the place. This paper focuses on the effectiveness of the eco-tourism brochure in tempting an individual to join the eco-tour. The paper concentrates on the graphic, text, colour, pictures, packages used in the brochure, to find out the effective element that attracts the viewers. Questionnaire is prepared based on an eco-tourism brochure and is distributed to the viewers for their opinions. Based on the results the effectiveness of the graphic involved in eco-tourism brochure has been evaluated. The paper also analyses the similar patterns and concepts, which is involved in formatting the eco-brochures. It also tries to point out the similar use of the graphic effects on the pictures, to kindle the eagerness of the individual to visit the ecology.

Ecocriticism- A Reading of Indian and Sri Lankan literary Texts from an Eco-Critical Perspective Indrajee De Zoysa Lecturer in English, English Language Teaching Unit, University of Ruhuna Sri Lanka.
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Ecocriticism is a movement which attempts to study the relationship existing between literature in its various forms and the physical environment. Ecocriticism as a critical approach began in the USA in the late 1980s and in the UK during the early 1990s and is a relatively new still emerging movement which is broad in scope. Though one might point out that this critical movement merely limits itself to the study of critically analyzing the depiction of nature (founded by the Romantic movement which arose against the capitalistic materialization of Society with industrialization in Britain) and how it is portrayed within a literary text, within time and the development of the Ecocriticism theories, the word environment (both in terms of physical and the reality meaning the environment or the environmental universe created through human beings by the use of various human institutions like language etc) began to be analyzed and critically looked upon in broader terms. In the modern global political arena both environment and climate change have become politically loaded serious issues. Especially for those living within the geographical sphere defined as South Asia, the environment has become a serious political issue of contention, a ground for conflicts, marginalization and struggle. As a developing region in the world, as prefigured in the Rise of Asia by Kishore Mahababani, it is important to do a political reading of how literature and the prominent authors of the region has responded to this new political trend through a textual basis. It is practically impossible to realistically carry out a literary analysis consisting of the whole region of South Asia. Hence, this paper will focus on Indian Writing in English and Sri Lankan writing in English as to see how it has tackled the issues pertaining to environment and how the texts have tackled the changing aspects of environment, the problems, its relationship with the human being, the politics etc within the modern political contexts existing within the two nation states. It is obvious that the simple enthralling somewhat pastoral environment presented by R.K Narayan, Raja Rao and Mulk Raj Anand etc has changed when it comes to modern day writers like Adiga, Rushdie, Roy, Hariharan, Kiran Desai etc within the context of India. When it comes to Sri Lanka again the environment presented by prominent authors like Martin Wickremasinghe, James Gonnewardena, Ernest Macintyre etc have all changed when it comes to new writers like Romesh Goonewardena, Shyam Selvadurai, Yasmine Goonerathne, Shehan Karunathilake and Nihal De Silva etc. Though the case is as such, there is a vacuum in analyzing the depiction of this environment in ecocritical terms and analyze them within the modern day politically loaded ecological discourse. Hence, this paper will attempt to do such an analysis as outlined above in trying to bring about a new perspective into reading literature within the aforementioned states by using an ecocritical perspective and understand the politics behind the inclusion or exclusion of the politically loaded depiction of the environment.

Feasibility of Eco-literature in Classrooms to Improve Reading Skills. Madhumathi P Research Associate, School of Social Sciences and Languages, VIT University, Vellore 632014 Tamil Nadu

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Eco literature improves the efficiency of the individual in reading skills. The theory of Ecocriticism studies the relationship between human and the environment. With this hold, the paper appeals to research on the preconceived concepts of nature in the minds of the individuals through the eco-literature. The text that refers nature primary or exclusively to human behaviour is stated eco-literature. Loretta Johnson, eco critic believed that environment is perceived in literature and so the texts with natural elements are treated as real world. An empirical test has been conducted for the students in the classrooms to find out the feasibility of the eco literature for improving reading skills. Two passages have been selected to test the reading comprehension of the students. The first passage is chosen from the ecoliterature and the second passage is from the non eco-literature. Both these passages are provided to the students for their reading comprehension. The results of these comprehensions are compared to find the feasibility of the eco-literature in the classrooms for teaching reading skills. A text that incorporates the hidden memories of this natural real world enhances the comprehensive ability of the individuals. The theory of eco criticism tries to establish a relationship between the human and natural environment. This paper attempts to distinguish the comprehensive ability of eco literature to that of the other text, with a notion that human is unconsciously connected to environment. Reading is a passive skill in which consciousness is involves comprehending the meaning of the text. Eco critics discuss that the environment is connected to human as well as other creatures in one way or other. So the paper argues that the natural element in the ecoliterature is unconsciously connected to the individual and so enables the reader to grasp the concepts in the text naturally. It facilitates the reader to comprehend the eco literature efficiently through less reading, when compared to other texts.

Contemporary Malayalam Green Poetry: The Voices of Resistance for Existence Ragesh G. II M.A. Dept. of English Pondicherry University

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Nature, as it is the source and the protector of life is one of the recurrent themes in Malayalam poetry down the ages. The counterpart of the transition from the so called romantic themes to the poetry of resistance that is the transition from nature to eco to green all over the world is visible in Malayalam too. Edasserry Govindan Nair's Kuttippuram palam, the first ecological poem in Malayalam views the development/progress from the other angle. The 1970s and 80s, the decades of and after the Silent Valley movement had heard more vivid and powerful green voices in poetry. These poems were propagandist in nature which was, in fact, a need of the hour. The present paper analyses the contemporary Malayalam poems that can be brought under the umbrella of green poetry in terms of their inner and outer texture. The select poems of S.Joseph, P. P Ramachandran, Sebastian,P. Raman, Vishnu Prasad, Veerankutty ,V. M Girija and Kanimol published after 2000 are taken for this eco critical analysis. Unlike their predecessors poems these are not propagandist. Treating the subtle nature of the environmental issues, these poems present the nature, the elements and all the transients as the victims of an anthropocentric world view. Human beings are presented as both the victims and the villains in these poems. Employing innocence as a tool, these poets make black humour, the effect. These poems share the eco centrist view and the Gaia theory of James Lovelock. Not being didactic these poems try to evoke a sense of guilt in the reader of the human follies as committed narratives do. Thus these poems voice the call for and of existence and resistance as being the tongue of people and nature for a universal cause.

The Everest Hotel: A Narrative through Seasons Sarannya V Pillai Ph.D Commonwealth Literature The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad The discourse of literature has always acknowledged the charismatic feature of nature; the art and literature of ancient civilizations were fraught with motifs inspired by the natural world.
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

The Everest Hotel: A Narrative through Seasons highlights on how the seasons affect the mindscapes of the characters involved and how they respond to the environmental changes as well in the text The Everest Hotel: A Calendar by I. Allan Sealy. Through this paper, an attempt is made to re-analyze the concept of development by tracing the eco-consciousness and environmental politics In The Everest Hotel: A Calendar the protagonists pass through a solitary phase in their lives where they detach themselves from the mundane life and enter the dark recesses of nature. The narrative follows like a garb weaving in threads of seasons so as to add beauty to its rendering and a poetic rendering of the various issues discussed. Couched in poetic language, it tells the tale of a nun (Ritu) who enters the worldly live and then returns to her ascetic way, but, in a passive way, raises many issues on the nature of development. Ritu meets Brijeshwar, a pro-Varunachal activist who awakes her sunken feelings buried in the nuns robes and makes her re-think of her spiritual life. The miniscule objects give voices to certain unexpressed emotions or foretell the events that will affect the lives of the characters involved. Ritu encounters men who sell trees illegally; she instils in the frightened villagers a sense of responsibility towards nature in lines with the Chipko Movement. The concerns addressed in The Everest Hotel gains relevance in the context of the larger debate on the relationship between managing natural resources and the very idea of development and progress.

Exploring Endangered Environment: Environmental Awareness in Modern Indian Fiction Dr. K. Venugopal Reddy Associate Professor Department of History School of Social & Behavioural Sciences Central University of Karnataka Gulbarga, Karnataka 585 106

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Exploring environmental imagination and demonstrating its critical and macrobiotic relationship with the human world forms the seminal concern of the paper. While critically interrogating environmentally informed literary imagination, it tackles the hitherto ignored terrain in modern Indian fiction. It locates the sparkles and spaces that bring the environmental unconscious to the fore in the fiction. The paper also demonstrates the subtle literary endeavours by the novelists to formulate and fashion viable visions for less embattled human development and less endangered environment. It traces the allusions in the narratives to the growing urban wilderness i.e., disorientation of human life and decay and degeneration in human values as a consequence of aggressive industrial activity propelled by inexorable human greed. It focuses on how the novelists articulated their sharp dissonance on the enormous multifarious insidious environmental impact engendered by this unbridled human thirst for and thrust toward economic development. Culture and nature cohere in socially and ecologically healthy ways. The novelists through their narratives sensitively communicate the ecological and social implications of placing the health of human and nonhuman communities within broader discussions of thoughtless economic progress and materialistic advancement which threaten in the process the overall planetary health.

Ecocomposition: Theory and Perspectives on Pedagogy C.G Shyamala Research Scholar Dept. of Studies in English Kannur University

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Composition theorists have located gender, class, race and culture in delineating human thought and identity. Such locations are often internal. In recent years, Ecocomposition has emerged as a significant ecological approach to identify the role of place and environment in composition proving that thoughts on identity are influenced by external agencies and conventions too. This emerging branch of composition studies is very much an ecological enquiry. The paper concentrates on the evolution of the ecocomposition theory, and elaborates how the symbiotic relationship between discourse and ecology reasserts relationships and ecological bearings. With the help of theory and pedagogy, the paper explains how habitat, locales, place, and environment influence composition, and how they tend to reinforce each other

Ecology of Dalit Literature: An Ecocritical Study of Poisoned Bread Dr. Sanjiv Kumar, Asstt. Professor Department of English, Central University of Haryana (at Narnaul).

Entire Dalit Literature is fraught with the torturous saga of unending exploitation of the creatures of god in the hands of anarchic citizens of the largest democracy of the world. The
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

plight of the dalits in different spheres of lifesocial, political, economic and legal, has obviously attracted the attention of dalit activists and writers but the ecological aspect of dalit writings has been partially explored so far. The present paper attempts to locate dalit perspective in an ecological setting where they are shown to have limited access to the natural resources and essential needs of survivalbe it the water, ownership over land, freedom to move freely, besides much debated question of roti, kapda or makan. Feudalism, untouchability, social-stratification, and numerous other social, political and economic factors worked collectively to suppress the voices of dalits, but perhaps nothing contributed more than adverse ecology of dalits. Here, the paper intends to perform an ecocritical study of Poisoned Bread (an anthology of translated Marathi Dalit Literature) to highlight as to how various poems, autobiographical extracts, short stories, essays and speeches essentially portray the dalit predicament in the light of ecological deprivation. Arjun Dangle, Hira Bansode, J.V. Pawar, Namdeo Dhasal, Daya Pawar, Sharankumar Limbale, Baburao Bagul and many others have been conscious enough towards dalit subalternity and have shown the subjugation of the millions not only by insensitive fellow human beings but also by nature in its different manifestations. The paper largely deals with the instances of voicelessness prevailing among dalits more due to their accepting their destiny as it comes to them because for them, nature itself is inimical to them. Moreover, the affliction is taken as granted because the ambience provided to them is always adverse to the realization of individual self.

An Emancipatory Space: Environment in Select Novels of Malayali Women Writers in English S.Devika Associate Professor Department Of English HHMSPBNSS College for Women Neeramankara Trivandrum-695040

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One look at Keralas long tradition of performing and ritual arts and oral and written literature and one is convinced that the crystalline rivers that criss-cross this verdant land have not only made it fertile and sustained its lush environment since the day Lord Parasurama created it with a throw of his mazhu, as legend has it, but have also been watering the imaginative faculty and nurturing the artistic and creative aspirations of its peopleso powerful is the symbolic connection between the reality of the land and the life and culture of Kerala, its art and literature. The Malayali consciousness and identity, his habits, customs, rituals and mode of life have been defined by the milieu in ways that have cultural, social, economic, even political ramifications. Malayali writers of poetry, fiction and non-fiction in Malayalam and English have sought to understand Kerala by exploring, again and again, this unique land and culture interface. In the post-Rushdie period which saw the renaissance of Indo-Anglian fiction, there appeared an array of incredibly talented Malayali-Anglian women novelists- Meena Alexander, Suma Josson, Nirmala Aravind, Manorama Mathai, Arundhati Roy, Anita Nair, Jaishree Misra, Susan Visvanathan, Shinie Antony, Preethi Nair, Geeta Abraham Jose, Jyothi Menon, and others- who, it may be said, have attained a near-canonical status in the imaginative recreation of the milieu of Kerala in their works. In this context, I would like to explore the nature-individual nexus in the novels of Malayali writers in English that are intensely concerned with the regional landscape shaping individual lives. This paper shall focus on three novels - Arundhati Roys The God of Small Things, Anita Nairs The Better Man and Geeta Abraham Joses By the River Pampa I Stood, where the environment plays a vital part in the narrative, instead of merely serving as a beautiful and passive backdrop for the human drama to unfold. It shall study these novels to see how the environment becomes a strong presence as an emancipatory space in the heterotopian world of transgressors, a utopian other space outside the authoritarian framework of society.

In Tune With Nature: Ecological Consciousness in Native American Fiction Jouhar.K Assistant professor, Department of English. S.S college, Areacode.

Indigenous people live in a universe, in a cosmological order, whereas we, the people of the industrial world, no longer live in a universe. We in North America live in a political world, a nation, a business world, an economic order, a cultural tradition, a Disney dream land. -Thomas Berry We are living in a world of impending ecological disaster triggered by mans exploitation of the natural resources to maximize profit, turning a blind eye towards the larger consequences of 23

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

disturbing the ecological equilibrium. The technical jargons of science fail to appeal to masses and the media, largely controlled by the corporate, fail to play their roles effectively. So the mission of appealing to the consciousness of the public is left to the writers, especially the writers of fiction. Any attempt to analyse the narrative strategies adopted by the writers to deal with this subtle yet complicated area is a daunting yet interesting endeavour. Ecological crisis arises from the insatiable demands of a modern economy. The rise and growth of capitalism took its toll on nature. It led to a shift from a bio-centric universe to an anthropocentric universe. Colonialism, which was one of the by-products of capitalism, was what Alfred W Crosby calls ecological imperialism. Colonisers greed ultimately resulted in the destruction of the ecosystem. America, whose policies pose a grave threat to nature at present, had one of the richest ecosystems in the world before the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers. Even today the Native Americans are in the forefront of the battle against climate change. An attempt to analyse the attitude towards nature in Native American Fiction is relevant because it brings to light the internalized politics that is woven into the textual fabric. What does recent mainstream American fiction have to say about ecological situation and the environmental crisis? Does the stand taken by them radically differ from that of the Native American novelists? Is there a common strain that runs through at least some of these works? are some of the questions taken up seriously by the researcher. The researcher analyses the representation of nature in Native American fictional works so as to compare their stand on nature with that of the mainstream fictional works. Ecological consciousness of these works is fore grounded. Novels like Silkos Almanac of the Dead and Ceremony, Vizenor Bearheart and Linda Hogans Solar Storms which set the environmental values of Native culture against those of white industrial capitalism are looked at closely. What are the textual strategies that the writers use to portray nature in all its subtleties? Colonialism was more or less an invasion and manipulation of native ecologies. Using the theoretical framework of Ecocriticism and postcolonialism the researcher tries to explore the fictional representation of the conflict between the colonizer and the nature. How does Ecocriticism as a theoretical approach lend itself to comparative and postcolonial literature in particular? Attempts of the native writers to recreate nature in texts with a political edge received immense critical reception recently. The researcher tries to explore the various narrative strategies that these writers use to reconnect to nature. To which extend do these writers succeed in coming up with an alternative textual framework to alter the readers attitude towards nature? How do native writers redefine the very notion of community so as to view it as both an ecological as well as social entity?

Tracing Consonances and Dissonances in an Ecocritcal Dissection of William Shakespeares Plays: A Select Exegesis Stephen Heldt II M.A English and Comparative Literature, Pondicherry University ...that Nature might stand up and say to the worldthis was a man (Mark Antonys eulogising words before Brutus corpse in JuliusCaesar) Besides the variegated readings widely applied in explicating Shakespeares Sonnets and Playsbe it Feminist readings, Archetypal approaches, the Bakhtian Dialogic and
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Carnivalesque interpretations, Post Colonial readings et cetera, this paper shall exclusively devote itself to delineating the multifarious ecocritical nuances replete in the plays by the sui generis Bard of Avon. Ranging from the most conspicuous like his rendition The Forest of Arden to the most subtle like the episode where Birnam Wood seems to be entering Dunsinane Hill, the objective is to underscore how nature per se is conceived, thematicallytreated and exploited vis-a-vis humankind. Through the selected plays, different genres like the tragic, comic as well as the tragic-comic shall be brought together with the deliberate purpose of tracing an ecological kinship as well as dichotomies that underpins Shakespeares works. Despite the inadequacy of nature as depicted in his Sonnets, the plays offer a larger canvass of opposing eco-ideologies which shall be dwelt upon at considerable length. Further, the application of critical terms like ecophobia with respect to plays like Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear and Othello shall be elucidated. Again, in this respect, the distinct departure that Shakespeare employs in his comedies like As You Like It, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Nights Dream shall be substantiated in the light of Shakespeares Ecopoetics: where Natures benevolence in his comedies is counterpoised with her Malevolence(with instances where Natures exploitation parallels that of man) in his tragedies together with a fine balance being struck in his tragi-comedies and Romances like The Tempest and The Winters Tale. Last but not least, this paper seeks to probe beneath the veneer by analysing whether the representation of Natures aspects and its callous annihilation, is treated as nature per se or whether it has been egotistically perspectives or made myopic and parochial in nature.

Towards an Ecofeminist Poetics Dr. K. Reshmi Assistant Professor Department of English Pondicherry University The paper begins by pointing out the urgency of ecofeminist movement in the contemporary scenario of scientific and technological advancements and the consequent threat to the survival of the biosphere. Ecofeminisms basic premise is that the ideology which sanctions oppressions such as those based on race, class, gender, sexuality, physical abilities is the same ideology which sanctions the oppression of nature. The paper traces the origin and development of ecofeminism and outlines the major tenets of this new critical concept. The connection between the oppression of woman and that of nature is explained to make clear
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why environment is a feminist issue and why feminist issues can be addressed in terms of environmental concerns. The criticism against ecofeminism, that it is dualistic, partial, antirational and essentialist are discussed in brief. The differences between ecofeminism and other feminist and environmental theories are pointed out. Ecofeminism is of the view that environmental problems as well as sexism, racism, colonialism, capitalism and militarism arise due to the elevation of values considered to be masculine such as competitive individualism, instrumentalism and progress as freedom from natural constraints. Ecofeminists are of the view that phallocentric metaphysical dualism like mind/body, self/other; culture/nature is the reason for all oppressions. Ecofeminist theory recognises sympathy and compassion as the fundamental feature of any liberatory theory. It opposes the dualistic constructions and aims to establish a different system of values where the category of other is reevaluated. Ecofeminism which advocates a harmonious relationship among man, woman and environment becomes the need of the hour, to ensure the survival of life on this planet.

Self and Nature in the Poetry of Jibanananda Das Anindya Sunder Polley, Lisha Sinha MA second year, Department of English, Pondicherry University The basic definition of ecocriticism is, it is a form of literary criticism which investigates the relation between humans and natural world, in the field of literature. However, our discussed poet, Jibanananda Das offers us enough opportunities to look at his poems from ecocritical point of view. the poetic world of Jibanananda is colorful and sensous, dark and melancholy and totally different from geography celebrated in Bengali Poetry, both by his predecessors and his contemporaries. Like his syntax and rhythm, his imagery attempts a state of defamilarization, where he uses his ingenuity to construct an unfamiliar geography out of a familiar world. In the poems discussed we will be trying to find out how Jibanananda has tried to project the nature-human relationship and how his indefinite poetic 'I' finds a defenite
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universal position in the realm of nature. Looking at the selected poems ecocritically, would be an inevitable outcome at this point, which is our chief objective to find out.

A sensitive literary representation of nature in Amitav Ghoshs The Hungry Tide and Sea of Poppies Enoch.R Research Scholar Pondicherry University Twenty years ago the uses of plastics were relatively less compared to today. If you go to a medical shop most of the syrups and medicine are in plastic containers. If you go to hotels in Tamil Nadu, mostly food is served in plastic paper instead of banana leaf. Cows of Pondicherry eat plastics and digital banners for which is Pondicherry is worldly renowned. The Semi-God is digital banners! The list goes on, what will happen in twenty years? The threat is obvious. Even eagle and ordinary squirrel are kept in cages. The children of today watch and learn names of the virtual animals and birds and the other world instead of the real ones as if dinosaur age has taken them into their account.
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The sustainability is oscillating. The nature once had abundance and animals and human beings had more than what they needed. Now the history and culture of human beings show where we stand and the position in which we are pushed in. The petrol and diesel price may go up to 500 rupees in next two years. Water is polluted. Air is polluted. Land is polluted. Everything is polluted. Human beings are polluted to put it in Jonathan Swifts language. Today we do not get sufficient things to live in the world. How are we going to give the sufficient mantel to the generation which is going to succeed us? How to make the world sustainable? The planet is in peril. The BBC is crying from the mountain top. The literary worlds also create deep sustainable awareness about nature and the relationship between human beings and environment and invite one to think and act accordingly. Some of the ecological thinkers and ecocritics are William Rueckert , the first person to use the term ecocriticism, Joseph Meeker, Glotfelty, Simon Estok ,Michael P. Cohen, and Camilo Gomides. In India, Vandana Shiva, environmental activist, and eco feminist, Murali Sivaramakrishnan, a poet, ecocritic and environmental writer and ect. One among those literary people is Amitav Ghosh. Ghoshs well known themes are mostly diasporic, blurring boundaries, creating forgotten histories, cultural displacement and language experimentation and creating ecological awareness. The paper reads about the sensitive literary representation of nature In The Hungry Tide and Sea of Poppies and Ghosh draws our attention to the predicament where the human beings and the animal kingdom face each other for survival in order to live the survival of the fittest and also to the ecological hidden histories in the past.

Perceptual Reciprocity, Emotion and Lived Experience: An Eco-Phenomenological Study Of Gretel Ehrlichs Islands, The Universe, Home. Dr.R. Ramapriya Asst Professor & Head Dept of English Kunthavai Nachiyar Govt. Arts College Fort Women(A) Thanjavur-613007 Tamil Nadu India.

The Cartesian worldview disconnects the thinking mind from the material world. This outlook has infused all our thinking with a string of dualistic and tiered oppositions:
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mind/body, reason/emotion, male/female, culture/nature, subject/object, active/passive, and human/nonhuman. In each case, the first is absolutely valued over the second of the duo. The western world view coupled with the individualistic view of the self is the basis of our cultural dysfunction. Individualism causes fear and a deep sense of lack. The persistent anxious wanting of the individualized self is taken care of by a consumer society that relies on an exponential economic growth. Thus the Western consumerist lifestyle and the environmental destruction caused thereafter are driven by the ontology of a separate, tightly defined self that makes us hold ourselves apart from the world and each other Environmental thinking is not a standing stone, but comprises a range of approaches to address the problems we are currently facing in our relationship to the natural world that sustains us. Drawing from Merleau- Ponty and other philosophers, the present paper examines through the text Islands, The Universe, Home of Gretel Ehrlich, the implications of an ontology that replaces the duo subject/object, reason/emotion with the perceiver, the perceived and the cooperative act phenomenal unfolding. Pontys concept of flesh (the mutual spatiality of the perceiver and the perceived) forms the ground of perceptual unfolding. The concept of flesh is the basis of deep kinship, the principal facet of which is an ethic of care. Deep kinship is a fascination with the sensuous worlds wild being and an urge to express our interconnectedness with it. Gretel Ehrlichs text celebrates our immersion within the sensuous and spatial world and it redraws the boundaries of alterity and embodies an ethics of care and beauty.

Ecofeminism : Significance of Earth based Spiritualities and Neopaganism Lekshmi.S Research Scholar Sree Sankaracharya university of Sanskrit, Kalady Ernakulam Kerala. The term Ecofeminism, coined by French feminist Francois d Eaubonne in 1974, looks at cultural and social concerns dealing with the relationship that the oppression of women has with the degradation of nature. Oppression of women and the environment have been the two sides of the same coin, rising some 5,000 years ago with the emergence of Western patriarchy. Given the ecofeminist respect for non-linear, non-rational, emotional understanding, it's not surprising that spirituality is a core element. Most religions are considered to be patriarchal and often exemplify the way humankind aims to transcend nature
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through the realm of culture. Mainstream religions portray God as a transcendent being, somehow beyond this world. Those spiritual paths and religions with a strong environmental element share many central themes. That common ground is held in by both modern and ancient traditions across the world suggests that they reveal some central human intuition. This notion is supported by archaeological evidence that spirituality was originally earth-based and centered on our experience of a oneness with nature. The deployment of earth based or women centered spiritualities is a significant and unique aspect of Ecofeminism. It deserves serious consideration for a number of reasons also. Because the idea of an ecological ontology which celebrates natures relation to women lies at the centre of these spiritualities. In this context when one analyses deeply, he can find that there are strong links between Ecofeminist spiritualities and neopaganism. Eventhough neo paganism is easily defined as a practice of an ancient and/or contemporary Nature religion. It was also used to refer to a Nature Spirituality or Earth-centered Spirituality, and Goddess Spirituality group or practice. When neopaganism is approached in a feminist, especially an ecofeminist perspective, it provides a rich material to analyze the strengths and limitations of neopaganism as a part of Ecofeminist spirituality. My paper is a humble attempt to delve into the role and scope of earth based spiritualities and neopaganism in ecofeminist theory and practice

Reinterpreting Arthur Millers Death of the Salesman Through Ecocriticism: A Look at Why We Garden. Mark A. Shryock Research Scholar Department of English Pondicherry University Theresa J. May writes in her paper "Greening the Theater: Taking Ecocriticism from Page to Stage, that it has been argued that American Theater is anti-ecological because of its nineteenth century humanistic roots that still create the paradigm it is both created and criticized from. Few playwrights write on ecological issues. Even less ecocriticisim of theater has occurred. She further points out that as of yet no ecocritical interpretation of Death of the Salesman has been written. The criticism that has occurred reads Willy Lowman as having pastoral longings and that he fails to adapt to the requirements of the modern urban world.
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Willy Lowman is the main character in Arthur Millers play Death of the Salesman. Lowman who is sixty four has spent most of his life traveling the open road and womanizing at the expense of rootedness and family commitment. Near the end of the play, right before he commits suicide, Lowman goes out into his back yard at night with a flashlight and tries to plant a garden in between the concrete and buildings on untilled soil. Literary criticism up until know has argued that Willy Lowmans act of planting the seeds is insanity or the very least a failure to adapt what all sane humans adapt to. I want to argue just the opposite that Lowman was trying to become sane, but could not break the culture chains that binded him to modern society. He had for too long, overly emphasized the traveler at the expense of creating a sense of place. Lowman, at some level, knew his cure was a garden and a connection with nature. He just did know how to carry out the cure. We each have in us a duality. We all have a need for travel, freedom, and adventure, as well as the need for rootedness, a sense of place, and commitment to family and home. I want to look at gardening in this light, explore why it might be important, and how it might have saved Willy Lowman. An ecocritical reinterpretation of Death of the Salesman and Willy Lowman is long over do.

Ecofeminism in Amitav Ghoshs Sea of Poppies N.Arularasi Lecturer in English, Dr.Pauls Engineering College, Engineering Vanur, Villupuram-605 109. Melpakkam-604 001. Dr.S.Kumaran Tindivanam, University College of Assistant Professor of English Ecofeminism is relatively a new part of the feminist movement, evolving out of political activism over the past three decades. The theory intertwines feminism and environmentalism and discusses about the women - nature connections in terms of degradation, exploitation and
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injustice that are inflicted on them by the patriarchal society. The first in Amitav Ghoshs new trilogy of novels, Sea of Poppies is set in the 1830s just before the opium war, which brings the colonial history of the East. This paper examines the concept of ecofeminism in Amitav Ghoshs Sea of Poppies, which is his ambitious new novel and a finalist for this years Man Booker Prize. Sea of Poppies reveals the ways in which the patriarchal ideologies and colonialism exploit and harm both women and the environment. The novel portrays the women-nature exploitation due to the invasion of European colonisers who come to settle in a far away land to get the raw materials for their factories but later started to set up their rule and domination on the native population. Further, the paper explores the ways in which the opium market has affected the lives of the major characters and points out East India Companys exploitation of the colonies and people.

Ecocriticism and the Human Psychology Poonam Dwivedi English Lecturer, D.D.M.P.G. College, Firozabad Rishikesh Kumar Singh Research Scholar, Central University of Haryana

The term Ecocriticism gets an impression of an entrant in Indian context. Nevertheless, an adequate number of treatises are available where the roots of ecocriticism can be traced. In Indian panorama nature has been considered as an inevitable part of human life and custom but ironically it has not been considered as a valued term in its textual form. However, various poets and authors have presented the peerless and perennial Indian landscape through
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their visual imagery and metaphorical language. It seems a resurgence of romanticism as they cherished nature. But, indeed, it is not their true ecological concern. The Indian Diaspora would require much more than this, if practised in its ecological context. It requires the peculiarity of relationship between humanities and science, between cognitive and praxilogical aspect of human beings, between pedagogical and cultural perspective of ecocriticism and, above all, between text and nature. As interpretation of a text requires the understanding level of the reader or learner as well as their cognitive acceptance, the interpretation of the nature also becomes important. When the nature gets a textual interpretation it includes some amenable facts, such as peoples alignment with nature as consumers, their exploitative practices, their orthodoxical tendencies and so on. Ergo it is relevant to study environment and human beings in terms of their psychological perspectives. Such effort in literature can be observed with the emergence of the Organisation for Studies in Literature and Environment-India (OSLE- India), founded by Dr. Nirmal Selvamony who is almost an icon of ecocriticism in India. Professor S. Murali is another reputed ecocritic who is working a lot in the field of ecocriticism. In fact, ecocriticism or ecoliterature is a human effort to restore the non-human mainly for the human. This paper also contains the ecocritical approach of Jayanta Mahapatra, K. N. Daruwalla, Kamala Das, Shiv K. Kumar and Dom Moraes and their incorporation with Lacan and Zizeks ecopsychological concerns.

A Critical Insight into Feminism and Eco-feminism Dr.S.Kumaran Assistant Professor of English, University College of Engineering Tindivanam, Melpakkam- 604 001, Tamilnadu. Feminism and eco-feminism are the two prominent fields that hold scope for the betterment of both humans and non-human others and their link has been pointed out by many ecofeminists since the inception of the term eco-feminism. This paper examines the concepts, which establish the connection between feminism and eco-feminism, to evaluate the soundness of the arguments and to explore other avenues for expansion. Further, this paper scrutinises the three waves of feminism to ascertain their relevance for growth and is on lookout for the existence of waves in eco-feminism. Moreover, it tries to differentiate feminine and eco-feminine from feminist and eco-feminist perspectives and necessitates the real understanding of the terms. It also questions the universal application of feminist and eco-feminist principles and analyses the need for national theories with respect to the condition of women in the respective nations.
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Anthropocentrism versus Biocentrism: The Levinasian Approach towards Nature Mahesh Sharma PhD, The English And Foreign Languages University Hyderabad

Literally defined as human-centeredness, anthropocentrism as it is commonly understood in environmental ethics and philosophy refers to the view in which nonhuman nature is valued primarily for its satisfaction of human preferences and/or contribution to broader human values and interests. Most theorists identify the militantly and exclusively anthropocentric worldview as the root cause of environmental problems such as species extinction, the loss of natural areas and wilderness, and the general decline of environmental quality. As a consequence, the rejection of anthropocentrism has become the hallmark of environmental ethics since the 1980s. Contrary to this Biocentrism is a life-centered outlook that rejects the view that humanity alone matters in ethics and accepts the moral standing of all living creatures. The aim of my paper would be to reject both the approaches towards
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Nature and look for a third space of embracing where the ethics of care will develop a new look on the relation of humanity and nature. Proponents of an ethic of care consider relationships central to moral life. The disposition to care for particular others and the practice of caring for others are sources and priorities of morality. In this regard I would develop the theory of the French critic Emmanuel Levinas and his doctrine of responsibility for other. I would argue in my paper that either anthropocentric or biocentric approach towards nature, they both annihilate the relation of self and others. So what we need in the present time is the theological doctrine of Levinas which understands self in relation to other and feels the responsibility for the other as mother does while conceiving the child in her womb. I would conclude my paper with the story of humming-bird.

There Will Always Be a Hyphen between Eco and Criticism A Reading of Select Ecocritical Readings of Literature Presented at the 4th International Conference on Consciousness, Literature, Theatre and Arts, University of Lincoln, UK Caveat: This is not an ecocritical reading but a reading on select ecocritical readings. M. Sahaya Ilanchezhian Research Scholar Pondicherry University Criticism is always and already self-referential [italics Derridas] This is a brief attempt to read, rather self-reflectively/referentially/consciously a group of select papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Consciousness, Literature, Theatre and Arts held at the University of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK between May 28 and 30, 2011. The papers were chosen for the geographical diversity and thematic similarity in their attempt to read nature as (re)presented in the pieces of literature [not just literary] they claimed to analyse [read, read]. In addition, the paper will look at how any relatively new critical approach is not only usurped and co-opted by the academic circles in an attempt to
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legitimize the approach as scientifically/contextually relevant but, in turn, adapts to and coopts all the other critical isms that went before it in an attempt to claim for itself the so called practical, scholarly and scientific/rational approach to reality and nature as one sees/views/reads them. Furthermore, a futile foray will be made into the stark fact that the rights of indigenous people, flora and fauna, their claim to their rightful land and nature is highly theorized in a way that alienates one to an approach that would otherwise have been fresh and insightful. [The idea for this paper cropped up during an intense discussion with the paper presenters on May 29, 2011]

Akira Kurosawas Dreams: An Ecocritical Perspective Akaitab Mukherjee Dept. Of English Pondicherry University Using camera the director shapes the meaning of his cinema. The audience sees through the lens of the camera. Akira Kurosawas Dreams was released in the last decade of the previous century when ecocriticism was much debated topic. The Japanese director, using the Japanese myth and theatrical traditions, tries to analyse human nature and human culture from the stand point of ecocriticism. The cinema is divided into eight sections. The first two dreams deal with myths. Sunshine Through the Rain, the first dream, focuses on the reverence of the human beings to the animal myth. The next part shows the ruined relationship between human being and god. It is popularly believed that on Dolls Day gods and goddess come to every home. But here they refuse to go to the home of the protagonist, for his family has destroyed the peach orchard. However, The blizzard uses the setting of snow covered mountain and presents natures destructive attitude. Snow Woman, the goddess who according to the Japanese mythology tries to kill human beings in snowy hills, has been
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presented. The Tunnel, another dream, presents the brutality of war, its consequences and how with the decadence of human mind his relationship with animals changes. Crows presents how the wealth of nature inspires an artist to create. Mt. Fuji in Red, on the other hand, points out the demerits of scientific advancement. The Weeping Demon is the portrayal of the post-Nagasaki wasteland where the ecological niche has been damaged. Village of the Watermills, the last dream, presents utopian world where the human beings again establish their relationship with nature. Here the use of songs and different types of dances play an important role. My paper will focus on how these eight aspects have been presented in order to locate the position of human being on earth.

Eco-critical study of Frost's Mending Wall R.S.Vetri selvi Assistant Professor of English Arignar Anna Government Arts College Musiri

Keats observed the beauty of nature. Shelley and Whitman view nature and society together.Wordsworth personified nature. But Frost's approach to nature is a mixture of the above. He finds nature as a mirror of man's soul.He beautifies nature. He has a special interest on the society. It is reflected in his poem 'Mending Wall'. He says,"I guess I'm not a nature poet. I have written no poems without a human being in them. He never separates man and nature. Man acts in course of the daily work of gaining a livelihood through nature. He is essentially a poet of pastures and plains, mountains and rivers woods and gardens groves and bowers. Nature teaches love, anger, generosity liberty and equality to man. In the poem Mending Wall he picturises universal brotherhood through nature. Nature never
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likes to make boundaries. It is the essential need of man. it is the urge of nowadays.Frost beautifully observes, My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines I tell him He only says, Good Fences make Good Neighbours. Here there is no scope for encroachment that is there are times when there should be a wall and there are times when there need not be a wall between neighbours. In the situation of Mending Wall the boundary-line does not serve any practical purpose and so it is useless.In the poem the second person likes to follow the traditional ideas of his father. That's why he often says "Good Fences make Good Neighbours". But the speaker is for adjustments according to the needs of the hour, to the demands of the situation. Thus Frost teaches universal brotherhood through Mending Wall. Nature is the first teacher of man. When we disturb nature it will teach a lesson one day. That's why we've witnessed natural calamities often. The reason for tsunami in South-Coast-Asia and particularly in Tamilnadu in 2004 is the deforestation of Mangrove Forest. They protect the people of Pudukkottai district. Why tsunami did not touch Rameswaram? Should we be eco-friendly, no need, let us do our work . Nature will look after itself. Frost sees man in nature and nature in man. They are inseparable. Man cannot mend nature. This article explores the possibilities of "mending" nature which is a failure.

Eco Critical Understanding of the Impact of Nuclear Power Plants in India K Bhaskar, Assistant professor of English Arignar Anna government Arts College Musiri , Trichy Nature creates us. We decreate it. A human with strong social consciousness considers this as a social problem. What we do to our environment will certainly affect, not only the environment in future but our generation too. We are doing irrecoverable damage, thus affecting natural justice .Modernization never civilized human society .Industrial revolution was not only an assault to cottage industry but environment also. Environment changed the lives of the humans .But now, humans change the environment. Man is unnecessarily oppressing nature .The struggle for "power" has become pertinent attitude of the world. Man is powerful as long as he is powerless. But this basic ideology is reversely understood . In the post-colonial socio-political scenario, India has become "power" monger. Indian government could not supply power to the exploding population .India has shifted its eyes from the natural power producing units to nuclear power producing technology. Nature is a proton .It should not be divided .But we, as neutron, divided it. Thus power producers from it is,
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

unstoppable .It gives us more than necessary power and finally kills us. Plato says Science saves us in retail and kills us in wholesale

Tsunami and earthquakes are the outburst of nuclear explosions in the ground. Super power countries and countries aspiring to be superpower are the cause for major environmental changes and possible dislocations of the current physiological position. But we never talk about it .They are nature's revenge on humans attitude .This paper would intervene the outcome of the nuclear power projects.

Within and Against Human and Nature: A Reading of Thomas Hardys The Return of the Native and Ernest Hemingways The Old Man and the Sea Arularasi. P Asst. Professor &Head Department Of English Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Artscollege, Puducherry This paper seeks to explore the other side of the so-called beauty and complacency of Nature in the two novels The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. In both the novels Hardy and Hemingway have offered nature as an antagonist with whom the human beings are struggling for their survival. In The Return of the Native, the Man-Nature conflict is proclaimed by Hardy in different ways, at different levels of narrative and character. In the novel, Egdon Heath, in all its agency and autonomy is a representation of Hardy's natural world. It demands absolute subjugation and if its authority is contradicted, it smacks back, as with Mrs. Yeobright, Clym and Eustacia. Surrender to nature would lead to survival in nature's terms as we see with the
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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

likes of Venn and Thomasin. Hardy also presents to us the conflict between the human will to change nature and the resistance of natures will to change. In The Old Man and the Sea, one can perceive the human beings struggle against nature and also the story of mans place within nature. The novel has focused on the perseverance of human being till the last moment of his/her life. From the very first paragraph, Santiago is pitted against the creatures of the sea; he is characterized as someone struggling against nature. He has gone eighty-four days without catching a fishhe will soon pass his own record of eighty-seven days. Almost as a reminder of Santiagos struggle, the sail of his skiff resembles the flag of permanent defeat. But the old man refuses defeat at every turn: he resolves to sail out beyond the other fishermen to where the biggest fish promise to be.

List of Participants (In Alphabetical Order) ADDRESS and email TO BE ADDED Akaitab Mukherjee Amarjeet Nayak, Anu T Asokan Arularasi N Arularasi. P Bhaskar, K Devika S. Dr.R. Ramapriya Enoch. R Hariharan Dr. N. P.., Hariharan N P Indrajeedez Jouhar.k Jubimol.K.G Kumaran Dr.S. Lekshmi.S Madhumathi P., Madhumathi P., Mahesh Sharma Mark A. Shryock Mir Nurul Islam 40

National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

Murali Sivaramakrishnan Poonam Dwivedi Ragesh G. Raja Rajeswari, G. Ramani, Dr. N. Reshmi Dr. K. Rishikesh Kumar Singh Sahaya Ilanchezhian M. Sanjiv Kumar, Dr. Sarannya V Pillai Shyamala C.G Sivakumar S Stephen Heldt Sujaritha S. Tanveer Hasan Usha V T. Dr Venugopal Reddy Dr. K. Vetri selvi R.S.

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National Conference on New Bearings in Ecocriticism: ABSTRACTS

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH School of Humanities Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India Email:departmentpuenglish@gmail.com

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