Hello Everyone!
This blog is part of the Lab Activity assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad under the ResearchGate Flipped Learning Activity. The purpose of this activity is to explore Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island using digital tools, AI platforms, and research-based learning methods. As part of this task, video resources from the flipped learning module were uploaded to NotebookLM to generate summaries, infographics, slide decks, and research insights. The activity also involved creating an AI-generated short video to simplify difficult concepts and conducting a small research exercise using ICT-based prompts discussed in the lecture “Practical Skills for the Use of ICT in Research.” Through this lab activity, the focus was not only on understanding the novel but also on reflecting on how digital and AI tools enhance comprehension, research skills, and critical thinking.
Inphografic:
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Vedio Overview :
Slide Desk:
4. Research Activity:
The following table provides an overview of the provided sources, detailing their publication information, the backgrounds of the authors, and the nature of the content provided.
Analogy: Analysing these sources is like examining a multi-faceted gemstone; while each contributor (the "facet") focuses on a different angle—be it law, spirituality, ecofeminism, or maritime history—they all reflect the light of a single central object: the complex narrative of the Anthropocene.
Analysis of the provided notebook reveals a dense network of citations where certain authors and foundational texts serve as central pillars for the secondary analyses. The most frequently cited works are Amitav Ghosh’s own non-fiction and prior novels, alongside a core group of environmental and postcolonial scholars whose theories are applied across multiple sources.
1. Primary Foundational Sources
The two most frequently referenced "internal" sources—works by Ghosh that are cited as evidence or theoretical framework by almost all other contributors—are:
- "The Great Derangement" (Ghosh, 2016): This non-fiction work is the most cited source in the notebook. It provides the definition of the "Environmental Uncanny" and the "Great Derangement" used by Vistalli, Berlingieri, and Nitya.
- "The Hungry Tide" (Ghosh, 2004): This novel is frequently referenced to provide context for characters (like Piya and Tipu) and the setting of the Sundarbans.
2. Most Frequently Cited Scholars
Several academic sources in this notebook rely on the same group of external theorists, making these scholars the most "referenced" across the various secondary analyses:
- Dipesh Chakrabarty: His work on the "Climate of History" and the Anthropocene is cited by nearly half of the secondary sources to discuss the merging of human and geological history.
- Lawrence Buell: Referenced extensively for his theories on environmental imagination and the role of literature in ecological crisis.
- Ursula Heise: Her concept of "Sense of Place and Sense of Planet" is used to analyze the translocal connections between the Sundarbans and Venice.
- Bruno Latour: Cited frequently for his philosophical deconstruction of the link between humans and nonhumans.
3. Internal Cross-Citations (Notebook Connections)
There is a notable "conversation" between the authors of the sources included in this notebook. The theses by Benedetta Vistalli and Eva-Karin Elisabeth Berlingieri are the most exhaustive, as they cite several other authors whose work also appears as independent sources in the notebook:
- Ursula Kluwick: Her research on floods is a standalone source in the notebook and is also cited by both Berlingieri and Vistalli to discuss aquatic language and nonhuman agency.
- Trina Bose and Amrita Satapathy: Their article on climate and immigration is its own source and is cited by Berlingieri to explain the link between natural disasters and trafficking.
- Annu Jalais: Her anthropological work on the Sundarbans is cited by Vistalli to discuss the cultural politics of the "Forest of Tigers".
Analogy: The citations in this notebook resemble a neural network; while many small "neurons" (individual observations) exist, they all fire toward a few "hubs"—specifically Ghosh’s The Great Derangement and Chakrabarty’s historical theses—which coordinate the entire understanding of the Anthropocene.
Based on the comprehensive analyses provided in the sources, the following five sources offer the most substantial and distinct perspectives on the intersection of climate change, myth, and human agency.
1. The Ecocritical and Anthropocene Perspective (Berlingieri)
This source argues that the Anthropocene represents a unique dualistic era where humans are both members of the natural world and the primary force altering it. The primary perspective is one of universal interdependence; the author posits that nature is not a passive setting for human drama but an active agent capable of reacting to human geological interference. Consequently, survival in this era requires a radical modification of human narratives to acknowledge the "environmental uncanny"—the recognition that non-human forces possess their own forms of thought and agency.
2. The Crisis of Imagination and Nonhuman Agency (Vistalli)
This source presents the climate crisis as fundamentally a "crisis of culture and imagination". The author contends that modernist literature has historically functioned as a "mode of concealment," silencing non-human voices and treating the earth as an inert resource. The central perspective is that storytelling must be restorative; by using myth and legend, literature can restore agency to the silenced more-than-human world. This approach identifies the "environmental uncanny" as a vital tool to wake humanity from its "Great Derangement" and rediscover its kinship with all living beings.
3. The Socio-Legal and Human Rights Perspective (Farrugia et al.)
Taking an international law and human rights stance, this source highlights the legal vacuum facing climate refugees. The authors argue that "Fortress Europe" maintains a policy of apathy, as current migration frameworks do not list climate change as a "valid" motive for seeking asylum. Their primary perspective is a call for a paradigm shift in policy: creating a new legal status of "permanently forced migration" to address the state of "choicelessness" that environmental degradation imposes on vulnerable populations in regions like the Sundarbans.
4. The Eco-Spiritual and Symbolic Perspective (Nitya & Jha)
This source focuses on the poetics of rivers as conduits of cultural memory and agents of change. The primary perspective is eco-spirituality, which critiques the utilitarian view of nature as a commodity to be extracted. Instead, it proposes reconceptualising natural spaces as sacred, shrine-like domains. By treating rivers and wetlands as living entities imbued with myth and spiritual energy, the authors suggest that literature can bridge the gap between human culture and the natural world, fostering a more ethical and reverent form of environmentalism.
5. The Philosophical and "Dharmic" Perspective (Chatterjee)
This source explores the blurring of boundaries between science, myth, and religion to address the planetary crisis. The author argues for a transition from institutionalized religious mechanisms to a more universal concept of "dharma" (the path of the just). The primary perspective is that ultimate salvation in the Anthropocene lies in the oneness of all creatures (ekam). In this framework, every being must perform its "swadharma" (duty) to maintain the ecosystem’s balance, suggesting that human survival is contingent upon a "religion" of compassion and co-existence devoid of rigid sectarian borders.
Analogy: Understanding these perspectives is like observing a river system. One researcher studies the chemistry of the water (science), another examines the legal rights of the people on the banks (law), a third looks at the spirits believed to dwell in the depths (spirituality), and a fourth charts how the river’s path has changed over centuries (history). To understand the river's true power, one must realise that all these currents flow into a single, rising tide.
Based on the provided sources, several research gaps have been identified that warrant further investigation into the intersections of literature, climate science, and policy.
1. Interdisciplinary Integration and Practical Impact
A significant gap exists in the merging of literary eco-narrative analysis with environmental science and cultural studies. While literature is recognised for its power to represent the climate crisis, there is a need for scholars to work together to examine how metaphors derived from nature directly impact environmental perceptions and practical policies. Further exploration is required to assess the role of literature in formulating public perception on climate change and informing actual legislation, effectively bridging the gap between cultural production and environmental action.
2. Global Comparative Eco-Spirituality
Current research focuses heavily on South Asian contexts, particularly the Sundarbans. The sources suggest a need for comparative studies that look for distinct regional approaches or recurring themes by comparing Amitav Ghosh’s works with indigenous and eco-spiritual literatures from Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. This would foster a broader dialogue around neglected aspects of eco-spirituality globally.
3. Application of Digital Humanities
There is a potential for using digital tools to map and track eco-narratives. Future research could employ computational analysis of texts, digital archiving, and interactive mapping to observe how eco-spiritual concepts move through various media and across different geographical locations.
4. Legal and Human Rights Frameworks
The sources highlight a legal vacuum regarding the status of climate refugees, noting that current frameworks do not list climate change as a "valid" motive for asylum. Further research is needed to develop a specific legal position, such as the proposed status of "permanently forced migration", which would validate the experiences of those displaced by environmental collapse and ensure they are not left to deceive migration systems to receive aid.
5. Decolonising Time and History
There is a research opportunity in further exploring how non-Western mythic temporalities (such as the Bengali concept of bhuta) can challenge the linear, modernist history of the West. Investigating myth as a "grammar of survival" could offer alternative epistemological tools for understanding planetary crises that linear history fails to capture.
Analogy: Identifying a research gap in this field is like filling in the missing pieces of a climate model; we understand the broad atmospheric patterns (the stories we tell), but we are still missing the specific local data (regional comparisons) and the technical mechanisms (legal and digital tools) necessary to predict how those patterns will ultimately reshape the coastline.
The provided sources collectively address the Anthropocene as a "planetary emergency" where human activity has become a dominant geological force, causing a fundamental "crisis of culture and imagination". While scientific discourse focuses on stratigraphic markers, the humanities explore the "environmental uncanny", where nature is no longer a passive backdrop but an active, reacting agent.
The Role of Myth as an Epistemological Tool
Current literature posits that the modern novel has historically functioned as a "mode of concealment," silencing non-human voices and treating the earth as an inert resource. To counteract this "Great Derangement," the sources highlight Amitav Ghosh’s use of myth—specifically the legend of the Gun Merchant and Manasa Devi—as a "grammar of survival". These myths function as trans-historical archives that record past climatic disruptions, such as the Little Ice Age, providing a framework for understanding contemporary crises that linear history fails to capture.
Translocality and Environmental Injustice
The sources establish translocal connections between seemingly disparate geographies like the Sundarbans and Venice, both of which face sea-level rise and "invasion" by non-human species like shipworms and poisonous spiders. This shared vulnerability underscores a global environmental injustice: while the climate crisis is universal, its burden falls disproportionately on marginalised populations in the Global South, who bear the brunt of "slow violence" and economic failure.
The Legal Vacuum and "Choicelessness" of Migration
A significant theme in the literature is the legal vacuum surrounding climate refugees. Current international frameworks do not recognise environmental degradation as a valid motive for seeking asylum, forcing displaced individuals into a state of "choicelessness" and making them vulnerable to human trafficking, organ trade, and slavery in "Fortress Europe".
Research Gap: Interdisciplinary Policy and Global Comparative Eco-Spirituality
A primary research gap exists in translating literary eco-narratives into practical environmental policy and expanding the focus beyond South Asian contexts. There is a need for interdisciplinary studies that examine how metaphors of nature impact public perception and legislation. Furthermore, there is a call for comparative research on indigenous and eco-spiritual literatures from Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia to identify global recurring themes in ecological stewardship.
Hypotheses
- Hypothesis 1: Integrating eco-spiritual metaphors from Global South literatures into international legal frameworks will provide the necessary cultural evidence to establish a new asylum status for "permanently forced migration".
- Hypothesis 2: A comparative analysis of non-Western mythic temporalities (such as the concept of bhuta) will reveal that indigenous "grammars of survival" offer more effective strategies for climate adaptation than modernist, linear historical models.
Research Questions
- How can the "poetics of rivers" and other natural metaphors be used to inform and reshape actual environmental legislation and human rights policies for climate refugees?
- In what ways do non-Western myths outside of the South Asian context (e.g., in Latin America or Africa) mirror the "environmental uncanny" found in the Sundarbans, and do they offer a unified global narrative for the Anthropocene?
- To what extent can digital humanities tools, such as interactive mapping and computational text analysis, track the movement of translocal eco-spiritual concepts to predict shifts in public environmental awareness?
Analogy: If current climate research is a technical manual for a failing engine, this research gap represents the missing driver's intuition; we understand the mechanics of the breakdown, but we lack the shared, global "cultural map" required to navigate the vehicle toward a safe destination.
Learning Outcomes :
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I learned that myth is not just a story but a way of understanding history and crisis.Through Gun Island, I understood how myths like the Manasa Devi legend preserve memories of real historical events and environmental disasters.
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I understood how climate change affects human life beyond nature.This activity helped me see the connection between climate change, migration, human trafficking, and social injustice in both the past and the present.
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I learned that humans and nature are deeply interconnected.The role of rivers, animals, and non-human forces showed me that nature is not passive but an active participant in human history.
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I realized that literature can help us imagine solutions to modern crises.By using myth, spirituality, and storytelling, literature like Gun Island helps us rethink responsibility, compassion, and coexistence in the Anthropocene.
References :
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