Postcolonial ecologies

About this book

This work is a collection of essays that brings ecocritical studies into a dialogue with postcolonial literature, it offers ways to explore the relationship between humans and nature around the globe, drawing from texts from Africa and the Caribbean, as well as the Pacific Islands and South Asia. Turning to contemporary works by both well- and little-known postcolonial writers, the diverse contributions highlight the literary imagination as crucial to representing what Edouard Glissant calls the "aesthetics of the earth." The essays are organized around a group of thematic concerns that engage culture and cultivation, arboriculture and deforestation, the lives of animals, and the relationship between the military and the tourist industry. With chapters that address works by J.M. Coetzee, Kiran Desai, Derek Walcott, Alejo Carpentier, Zakes Mda, and many others, the book makes a contribution to rethinking the role of the humanities in addressing global environmental issues. It's features include: The overlooked Caribbean, Latin American, African and South Asian scholars and activists who have contributed to global environmentalism and a sense of place in literary production ; Focuses on an eclectic group of writers from across the globe that includes Coetzee, Zakes Mda, and Derek Walcott ; Demonstrates the postcolonial's long-standing concern with environmentalism.