https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.040
From Spaces of Capital to Oikieon: Survivor-centred Environmental Justice Narrative in Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C.K. Janu
MIDHUN MOHAN
Research Scholar
Department of English Studies
Central University of Tamil Nadu
PROF. A. SELVAM
Professor
Department of English Studies
Central University of Tamil Nadu
Abstract: Environmental justice narratives engage with the disproportionate distribution of environmental benefits among various sections of society. Environmental justice narratives are the one way to challenge and critique the unequal distribution of environmental benefits among people. Rather than relying on the scientific cause-and-effect relationships most other approaches rely on, environmental justice narratives focus on the emotional, affective and relational aspects of the affected. This ‘survivor-centred’ approach will create alternative ways of looking at the environment, respecting the interconnectedness of all biotic and abiotic beings. Thus, critiquing and challenging the “Spaces of Capital”, a term coined by David Harvey, which are the artificial spaces left over by nature extraction and exploitation of the natural spaces. By formulating an alternate way of looking at the relationship between nature and culture, we could find possible ways to create or restore the ‘Oikeion’ to the affected indigenous communities. Thus, creating ‘free narrative spaces’, a term coined by Alan Drengson, which is a kind of meta-narrative without the restraint of a grand narrative. Free narrative spaces enable the fostering of dialogues and preservation measures to restore the lost Oikeion. The study examines these concepts in the work Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C.K. Janu, written by Bhaskaran and translated into English by N. Ravi Shanker.
Keywords: Environmental justice, spaces of capital, resistance narratives, oikeion, indigenous communities
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