Intersections of Ecology and Empire: A Postcolonial Reading of Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In Indian literature, the study of environmental issues and themes in the setting of postcolonial countries is known as postcolonial ecology. The article examines how contemporary Indian literature especially that of the postcolonial period, addresses ecological concerns by exploring the connections among environmental degradation, socio-political processes, and colonial legacies. This article attempts to shed light on how Indian writers portray the nuanced relationship between people and the environment in the wake of colonialism by analyzing Kiran Desai's 2006 novel The Inheritance of Loss. Although the novel has received much praise from critics for its examination of postcolonial themes, little is known about its ecological aspects. This article analyses the book using an ecological postcolonial perspective, illuminating how complexly it presents environmental issues within postcolonial India. The article analyses how the book handles the interconnections of environmental degradation, globalization, and colonial legacies by drawing on ecocritical theory and postcolonial discourse. The article delves into important themes, including landscape, resistance, colonial exploitation, and cultural ecology, through rigorous textual study and theoretical interaction, clarifying how Desai's story highlights the ecological effects of globalization and colonialism in the Indian Himalayas. This article highlights the critical necessity of incorporating ecological ideas into postcolonial studies by bringing the novel's ecological aspects to the forefront and adding to the larger conversation on environmental literature and postcolonial studies. This article attempts to contend that The Inheritance of Loss presents a powerful analysis of environmental injustice and a captivating depiction of the connections that remain between post-colonial human society and the natural world.
Authors: Dr. Prasenjit Panda, Ojal Kashyap
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W6949971420
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