https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i3.023
Hydrocolonial Entanglements and Fluid Modernities: Reconfiguring Cultural Formations through Blue Humanities in South Asian Literature
ANIRBAN SEN
Research Scholar
Department of English
University of North Bengal, West Bengal
Abstract: The sole focus of this paper lies in its engagement with an emerging yet highly significant aspect of environmental studies: the ocean and hydrospaces, which are increasingly examined through the lenses of Blue Humanities and Blue Cultural Studies. The paper employs these theoretical frameworks to explore how cultural formations are shaped and reconfigured in South Asian literature and narratives. Moving beyond land-based perspectives, it focuses on the role of the ocean as an epistemic and ontological force that produces alternative conceptions of identity, history, and transnational connections.
In dialogue with Blue Humanities, postcolonial ecocriticism, and hydrocolonialism, the study analyzes how maritime spaces, especially the Indian Ocean, become repositories of colonial encounters, diasporic movements, and ecological catastrophes through a theoretical discussion of select novels by Amitav Ghosh and other works of South Asian literature. The analysis demonstrates that South Asian literary texts reconfigure the ocean as a material presence that challenges notions of territorial sovereignty and fosters cultural hybridity.
Keywords: Blue Humanities, Hydrocolonialism, South Asian Literature, Oceanic Studies, Indian Ocean
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