https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1si1.011
New Paradigms of Hope: A Study of Two Environmental Life Narratives
DIMPLE M. SCARIA
Associate Professor
Department of English
Government College, Chittur, Palakkad, Kerala
Affiliated to University of Calicut
dimplescaria34@gmail.com
ORCID: 0009-0004-5120-5628
Abstract: This research paper seeks to study some new ways of hope and optimism through the grounded and the culture-specific experiences of Mayilamma and Daya Bai, the two environmental activists from Kerala, the southernmost state of India. The attempt is to deconstruct the conventional anthropocentric paradigms vis-à-vis hope and optimism, detaching these notions from the Occidental and Christian implications. It has been hypothesized that both Mayilamma and Daya Bai, known for their environmental activism on behalf of the tribal community, stand for a planetary solidarity which tries to encompass all living and non-living entities.
The study foregrounds the resilience of these women shown against the giant multinational companies like Coca-Cola in their fight for ecological refurbishment. It also tries to highlight how their struggles and endurance bring to the fore a metaphysical stance of hope. Emerging concepts such as hydro democracy, arboreal abode, trans-spatiotemporal hope are introduced to theorize the established ideas in the study. The analysis projects the reconstitutive potential of affirmative optimism as well as the hope embedded in the rustic wisdom, throwing light on newer dimensions of postcolonial studies and environmental ethics.
Keywords: Trans-spatiotemporal Hope, Hydro Democracy, Arboreal Abode, Planetary Solidarity
Read full paper PDF