Climate Change, Ecological Catastrophe, and the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel

Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of contents
Acknowledgements
Land Acknowledgement and Positionality Statement
Introduction
A Crisis of the Imagination
Climate Change, Catastrophe, and the Anthropocene
Popular Perceptions of Climate Change
Why Read Novels about Climate Change and Catastrophe?
Chapter Breakdown
Chapter 1: Reading Catastrophe through Postcolonialism, Ecocriticism, and Animal Studies
Chapter 2: Catastrophe, Vulnerability, and Human Relationships
Chapter 3: Catastrophe and Human– Nonhuman Relationships in Degraded Environments
Chapter 4: Land Justice, Resistance, and Post- Catastrophe Recovery
Conclusion
Notes
1 Reading Catastrophe through Postcolonialism, Ecocriticism, Indigenous Studies, and Animal Studies
Racism, (Neo)Colonialism, and Environmental Justice
Colonialism, Postcolonialism, and Catastrophe
Colonial Roots: Colonialism, Environment, Environmentalism
Postcolonial Studies, Indigenous Studies, and Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene
Defining Catastrophe (Catastrophe versus Apocalypse versus Disaster)
The Nonhuman Turn
Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature
Animal Studies
Problems and Contributions
Notes
2 Catastrophe, Vulnerability, and Human Relationships
Colonialism, Catastrophe, and the Everyday
Colonialism and Its Aftermath in the Context of Climate Change: Race, Indigeneity, and Socio-Ecological Vulnerability
Kiran Dessi’s the Inheritance of Loss
Synopsis and Literature Review
Socioeconomic Hierarchies and Power Dynamics: Caste, Class, Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity
Lepcha Characters
Wealthy/Powerful Indian Characters
Gorkha Characters
Racism and Colonialism
Precarity, Vulnerability, and Catastrophe
Reflection, Renegotiation, and Human–Animal Relationships
Conclusion
Kim Scott’s Benang : From the Heart
Synopsis and Literature Review
Form, Perspective, and the Desensationalization of Violence
Colonial Law, Segregation, and Control
Control, Violence, and the Body
Control, Violence, and the Environment
The Bushfire
Conclusion
Notes
3 Catastrophe and Human–Nonhuman Relationships in Degraded Environments
Animals, Climate Change, and Ecological Catastrophe
Uzma Aslam Khan’s Thinner Than Skin
Synopsis and Literature Review
Colonial Law and Human–Nonhuman Relationships
Ecological Vulnerability and Earthquakes
Disappearance of Local Species
Animals and Catastrophe
Conclusion
Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria
Synopsis and Literature Review
Racial/Racist Geographies and Their Legacy
Catastrophe in the Novel: The Cyclone and the Mine
Narrative Form: Dreaming, Indigenous Cosmologies, and “Aboriginal Realism”
Animals in the Novel
Animals and the Mine
Animals and the Cyclone
New Beginnings
Conclusion
Notes
4 Land Justice, Resistance, Recovery
The Physical Environment
Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide
Synopsis and Literature Review
The Sundarbans
Narrative Structure
Space–Time Compression and Nonhuman Actants
Project Tiger and the Morichjhãpi Massacre
Indigenous Peoples and Conservation Priorities
Catastrophe and Environmental Trauma
Conclusion
Patricia Grace’s Potiki
Synopsis and Literature Review
The Colonization of New Zealand: Historical and Environmental Context
Stories, Perspectives, and Now-Time
Racism and Colonial Capital
Land and Resistance
Land, Community, Identity
Ecological Degradation
Floor, Fire, and Explosion
Recovery, Cyclicality, and the Everyday
Conclusion
Notes
Conclusion
Works Cited
Index