Lab Activity: Gun Island
This blog is written as part of a Lab Activity on Gun Island, assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad. The task aims to explore the themes, narrative techniques, and cultural significance of Amitav Ghosh’s novel through critical reflection and analysis. Click Here.
Research Activity
Postcolonial Critique of Eurocentric Humanism:
Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island links ancient myth with the contemporary climate crisis, showing how environmental damage in the Anthropocene forces the migration of humans and animals alike. Through Deen Datta’s journey and the revived legend of the Gun Merchant and Manasa Devi, the novel presents natural disasters as consequences of human disruption of ecological balance. By connecting places such as the Sundarbans and Venice, the text highlights global interdependence, human trafficking, and the unsettling presence of environmental change, ultimately offering eco-spiritual hope rather than apocalyptic despair.
Prompt 1: Create a table showing each source with its publication dates,author credentials,and whether its primary source, secondary analysis or opinion piece.
Prompt 2: Which of these sources are more frequently cited or referenced by other sources in this notebook ?
Based on the sources provided in this notebook, the most frequently cited or referenced secondary analysis pieces are those by Ashwarya Samkaria, Tathagata Som, and Kalaivani D G.
While all secondary sources in the notebook extensively reference Amitav Ghosh’s own primary works (particularly The Great Derangement and Gun Island), the following secondary sources are most often used by other authors within the notebook to build their arguments:
1. Ashwarya Samkaria (2022)
Samkaria's work, "Postcolonial Nonhuman Blurring (B)orders in Migrant Ecologies," is a central reference point for several other academic analyses in the notebook.
• Referenced by: It is explicitly cited in the bibliography of the comprehensive report "Epistemic Collapses and Mythic Emergences".
• Referenced by: It is used as a foundational text in the "Synergy of History and Ecology" source to support the shift toward post-anthropocentric theory.
• Referenced by: It appears in the bibliography of the "Myth, Multilingualism, and Nonhuman Agency" source.
2. Tathagata Som (2020/2021)
Som’s review and subsequent article, "The Place of the Planet: Climate Change and Migration in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island," is frequently referenced for its insights into migration and syncretism.
• Referenced by: It is cited by Ashwarya Samkaria to highlight how the novel reframes species history through human and nonhuman migrations.
• Referenced by: It is listed as a key source for "rethinking reality" in the "Epistemic Collapses" report.
• Referenced by: It is included in the references for the "Myth, Multilingualism, and Nonhuman Agency" analysis.
3. Kalaivani D G (2025)
Kalaivani's contributions, specifically "Myth as Epistemology and Historical Memory" and "The Synergy of History and Ecology," are cited for their comparative analysis.
• Referenced by: The "Myth, Multilingualism, and Nonhuman Agency" source cites Kalaivani's 2025 study on myth and historical memory.
• Referenced by: The report on "Epistemic Collapses" references Kalaivani's work to explain the synergy between history and ecology.
4. Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru
Draga Alexandru is a recurring author in the notebook with multiple entries, and her work is often cited by others for its ecofeminist perspective.
• Referenced by: Her work on critical ecofeminism is cited in the "Epistemic Collapses" report.
• Referenced by: She is cited in the "Myth, Multilingualism, and Nonhuman Agency" bibliography regarding translingual climate fiction.
The "Meta-Source"
The source titled "Epistemic Collapses and Mythic Emergences: A Postcolonial Critique of Eurocentric Humanism" serves as the most comprehensive aggregator in the notebook. It functions as a meta-analysis, citing nearly every other source provided in its internal bibliography, including the works of Berlingieri, Vistalli, Tasnim, Rehman, and Fayez.
Analogy: If this notebook were a scientific map, Amitav Ghosh would be the continent everyone is exploring. Secondary sources like Samkaria and Som would be the base camps established by early explorers, which nearly every subsequent traveler (the other authors) stops at to gather information before heading deeper into the terrain.
Prompt 3: Summarize the primary perspective of the top five most substantial sources
1. Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru: Critical Ecofeminism
This source argues that Ghosh’s fiction, particularly The Hungry Tide and Gun Island, uses female protagonists as centres of knowledge to address the environmental crisis. These women, such as Piya and Nilima, represent a sustainable plan for coexistence with nature that avoids the aggressive exploitation of Western patriarchal mentalities. Drawing on theorists like Vandana Shiva, the author posits that the “rape of the Earth” and the oppression of women are intimately linked, and that the liberation of one is impossible without the liberation of the other. Ultimately, this perspective frames environmental protection as an act of female agency that celebrates equality across all species boundaries.
2. Sunu Rose Joseph & Shashikantha Koudur: Decolonial Myths
These authors examine how Indigenous myths and demi-gods (like Manasa and Olokun) serve as powerful tools for decolonising Westerncentric narration. They argue that Enlightenment-era thinking "disenchanted" the world by separating the Divine from Nature, leading to a patriarchal culture of human mastery. By re-evaluating tropical myths, Ghosh creates multispecies entanglements that dismantle colonial binaries separating humans from their environment. This perspective suggests that the climate crisis can only be resolved through decolonial ideologies that embrace the "relationality of all life" and the agency of the more-than-human world.
3. Muhammad Hafeez ur Rehman: Eco-Spiritual Metaphysics
This source provides a tripartite Hindu eco-spiritual framework—Karma, Dharma, and Ecosystem—to interpret contemporary climate collapse. Karma is used to depict natural disasters and refugee crises as the inevitable "moral consequence" of centuries of human exploitation. Dharma is proposed as an ethical antidote, shifting the human role from "conqueror" to "custodian" through a sense of righteous duty and ecological care. Finally, the Ecosystem is presented not just as a scientific data set, but as a sacred web of life where the destinies of humans and non-humans are spiritually entwined.
4. Komal Nazir: The Anthropocene Gothic
Focusing on the limits of narratability, this author argues that the Anthropocene is a "Gothic geohistorical event" characterized by haunting and epistemic failure. The primary perspective is that traditional Western realism is inadequate for capturing the unpredictability of climate change. Instead, South Asian literature utilizes the "Anthropocene Gothic" to register the return of repressed ecological violence through uncanny repetitions, spectral intrusions, and affective disorientation. This framework suggests that stories of planetary crisis must embrace epistemic uncertainty rather than totalising narrative mastery.
5. "Epistemic Collapses and Mythic Emergences": Postcolonial Planetary Environmentalism
This meta-analysis argues that Gun Island dismantles Eurocentric humanism and Cartesian dualism, which historically viewed nature as a passive, mechanical resource. It proposes a shift toward "planetary environmentalism," which demands justice for both humans and non-humans across borders. The source highlights how non-human entities (like spiders and shipworms) are portrayed as active historical agents capable of "fighting back" against human enterprises. This perspective integrates subjugated knowledges from the periphery to challenge the linear, progressive histories favored by the Global North.
Prompt 4: Identify ‘Research Gap’ for further research in this area.
1. Expansion of Non-Western Eco-Cosmologies
While the sources provide deep insights into Hindu (Manasa) and Yoruba (Olokun) mythologies, there is a significant opportunity to explore how other non-Western cosmologies conceptualise ecological belonging,. Future research could investigate:
• How Islamic, Buddhist, or other Indigenous belief systems encode environmental ethics and "karmic causality" in ways that differ from the frameworks already established,.
• The field of "eco-mythology," specifically how ancient stories can be read as adaptive cultural technologies for imagining alternative futures during the current planetary crisis,.
2. Intersectional Queer Ecocriticism
One source explicitly identifies a lack of systematic exploration into the intersections between ecofeminist and queer theories.
• While the sources discuss female agency and "female protagonists as centres of knowledge",, there is a gap in understanding how queer theory might further dismantle the "natural/unnatural" binary used to justify both social oppression and environmental destruction,.
• Research could examine how queer and trans-corporeal identities interact with "migrant ecologies" and the crossing of both biological and national borders,.
3. Socio-Economic and Neoliberal Specificity
Multiple sources suggest that literary analysis can sometimes aestheticise or mythologise migration, potentially glossing over the material realities of neoliberal capitalism,.
• There is a need for more research connecting contemporary Mediterranean migration to the specific "drastic neoliberal reforms" and food insecurities in regions like Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq,.
• Scholars suggest looking deeper at how militarised sea borders and the "people-moving industry" are not just human rights issues, but are fundamentally linked to the "oceanic ecosystems" and the "Blue Humanities",,.
4. Limits of Narratability and Genre Hybridity
The sources introduce the "Anthropocene Gothic" as a mode of registers haunting and epistemic failure, but this remains a nascent framework,.
• Future research could apply this "Gothic geohistorical" lens to South Asian authors beyond Amitav Ghosh, testing if these narrative ruptures and "spectral ecologies" are a broader feature of Global South literature,.
• There is room to explore the "credibility dilemma" in fiction: how writers can maintain emotional resonance while avoiding the "credibility trap" of over-relying on scientific data.
5. Digital and Technological Dimensions of Ecology
While the novel Gun Island mentions the internet as a "migrant's magic carpet" and the use of GPS for tracking both humans and animals,, there is a gap in research regarding:
• How social media and digital technologies reshape our "imaginary access" to the environment and the nonhuman world,.
• The role of digital humanities in mapping "translocal connections" between distant, ecologically vulnerable sites like the Sundarbans and Venice,.
Prompt 5: Draft literature review ending with hypotheses and research questions pertaining to this research gap.
Literature Review: Mythic Ecologies, Non-Human Agency, and the Anthropocene Gothic
The emergence of the Anthropocene as a distinct geological and historical epoch has necessitated a fundamental re-evaluation of the intellectual foundations of Western thought. Contemporary scholarship identifies that the climate crisis is equally a crisis of culture and imagination, requiring a departure from the "Great Derangement" of Eurocentric humanism. Amitav Ghosh’s recent works, particularly Gun Island and The Nutmeg’s Curse, serve as critical literary apparatuses to dismantle Cartesian dualism, which has historically severed the human subject from the natural world.
Myth as Epistemology and Decolonial Resistance
A central theme in recent analyses is the reclamation of myth as an epistemological tool and historical archive. Rather than being dismissed as "superstition" or "mumbo-jumbo," indigenous myths like those of Manasa Devi and Bon Bibi are framed as "subjugated knowledges" that provide authentic insights into ecological belonging. These myths function as "voice-carriers" or translators between species that have no common language, offering a decolonial counter-narrative to Enlightenment rationalism. By linking the 17th-century Little Ice Age to contemporary climate perturbations, Ghosh demonstrates that the Anthropocene is a historical condition emerging from centuries of colonial extraction and "planetary remaking".
Multispecies Justice and Non-Human Agency
The sources emphasize that the ecological world is an active historical agent rather than a passive backdrop for human drama. This post-anthropocentric shift is illustrated through the agentic capacities of species such as shipworms, spiders, and Irrawaddy dolphins, which act with intention and impact human futures. The concept of trans-corporeality further highlights the inescapable interconnectedness between humans and all living and non-living matter, challenging the "sovereign self". The "miraculous" convergences of species at the end of Gun Island are read as symbols of multispecies justice, where the survival of humans is seen as contingent on the recognition of interspecies interdependence.
Migrant Ecologies and the Environmental Uncanny
Migration is redefined in the sources as a "planetary condition" in which all life is on the move, dislodged by the "sheer randomness" of the Anthropocene. The sources connect the European refugee crisis to long histories of chattel slavery and indentured labour, framing modern Mediterranean crossings as an "upending" of the colonial project. This sense of displacement is often registered through the "environmental uncanny," where the eruption of the extraordinary within the ordinary fabric of life produces a sense of dread and disorientation. The Anthropocene Gothic arises at these moments of narrative rupture, where conventional realism fails to account for the "improbable" and "unheard-of" forces of the Earth system.
Research Gap: Intersectional Queer Ecocriticism and Digital Ecologies
While the sources extensively discuss female agency and "female protagonists as centres of knowledge," there is a notable gap regarding the systematic intersection of queer theory and ecocriticism in South Asian climate fiction. Furthermore, although the internet is described as a "migrant’s magic carpet," the role of digital technologies and "virtual realities" in reshaping ecological belonging and translocal identities remains under-theorised.
Hypotheses and Research Questions
Hypothesis 1: If digital technologies (such as GPS and social media) are analysed as non-human "tentacular" agents, they will be found to function as modern shamanic tools that bridge the gap between scientific rationalism and mythic intuition in migrant ecologies.
Hypothesis 2: A queer ecofeminist reading of South Asian narratives will reveal that the "natural/unnatural" binary used to justify both social oppression and environmental destruction is fundamentally dismantled by the "ontological amphibianism" found in multispecies entanglements.
Research Question 1: To what extent do digital networks and "virtualities" act as a conduit for "ecological memory", allowing translocal migrants to maintain a sense of "bioregional attachment" across national borders?
Research Question 2: How does the "Anthropocene Gothic" mode specifically employ queer kinships and "venomous attachments" to challenge the heteronormative "politics of reproductive futurism" in the face of planetary extinction?
Research Question 3: In what ways can non-Western eco-cosmologies beyond Hinduism (such as Islamic or Indigenous folk traditions) expand the current understanding of "karmic causality" as a framework for environmental justice?
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