CFP: Environmental Racism and Environmental Casteism: A Reading of African American and Indian Dalit Literature

 --Note:  Springer has shown interest in publishing this book subject to solid content and positive reviews.

Environmental injustice or Environmental discrimination or Environmental inequality occurs when a certain powerful and dominant group of people has a hold of environmental resources and the marginalized community is deliberately left to live on the leftovers or scarcity. This scarcity is a marker of the status of the marginalized groups/communities in the world. Nature never discriminates among its individuals because of race, caste, creed, class, gender, skin color, etc. However, power politics in the ‘world-society’ set-up leads to injustice and inequality of resources. The articulation of environmental injustice finds its articulation in literary spaces which forms an imperative focus of the various organizations and institutions and thus cannot be ignored. The present work explores and investigates the expression and articulation of environmental inequality in literature in the context of environmental racism and environmental casteism. Environmental racism and environmental casteism is a form of ‘institutional discrimination’ which leads to the domination of white/upper castes on the environmental resources and disposal of harmful waste in communities of colour and low castes.

Everyone has the right to enjoy the bounties of nature. One should not be distanced from fresh water and air because of skin colour, race, caste, class, gender or creed. Every government must take care of the basic needs of the citizens without being biased. Unfortunately, since they arrived in the New World, blacks have not only been exposed to political and social exclusion but also to environmental threats. Racist policies of the dominant white society ensured that blacks stayed in vulnerable neighbourhoods and localities from slavery till the present. On the other hand, whites have been enjoying more healthy and clean surroundings thereby giving birth to the idea of white being clean and black being dirty, as Carl Zimring puts it. Subsequently, blacks succumb to diseases, death, and disintegration, both physically and psychologically. After the enactment of civil rights, one comes across a new agitation rampant in American streets. This movement was largely organized by blacks along with other marginalized groups such as native Indians, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. These groups were demanding Environmental Justice. They argued that white America had not treated them well. Their neighbourhoods were converted into junkyards of industrial waste; consequently, their existence was at stake. They were fighting for political representation so that they could decide their fate. The protest aimed to stop the dumping of industrial waste due to which they and their children had become vulnerable to diseases and death.

African American writers demonstrate through their writings blacks struggle for the basic amenities of life which were not possible because of dirty and unhygienic environment. They, at times covertly and at other times overtly, demand and plead for Environmental Justice for their characters, thereby for the entire black community. They highlight how blacks thrive physically, materially, and spiritually once their vicinity is changed to a neat and clean surrounding.

The environmental movements that are popular at present are mostly Eurocentric and/or dominated by the concerns of whites. All the major environmental movements have somewhat marginalized the communities and people on the fringes of society, like blacks, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups, by focusing only on the mainstream Western culture. In recent times, there has been an attempt to provide a counter-narrative to Eurocentric environmental movements by writers and researchers like Carl Zimring, Robert Bullard, Luke Cole and Sheila Foster, Carolyn Finney, Dorceta Taylor, Harriet Washington, etc. Similarly, African American writers like Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Ishmael Reed, Fredric Doughlas, Alex Haley, etc., have also challenged the mainstream environmental movements through their writing—by unveiling the acts of environmental racism perpetrated against black communities. 

Dalits in India form the most neglected and marginalized section in India because of ‘casteism’ and ‘caste system’. ‘Dalit’ is a Sanskrit word which means crushed, broken, oppressed, etc.  It is a self-adopted term by the scheduled castes of India as this marginalized section of Indian society feels that terms like ‘Ati[1]Shudra’, ‘Scheduled Castes’ or ‘depressed classes,’ etc., connote ‘derogation’. According to Sukhadeo Thorat, the problem of Dalits is socio-cultural-political as: “they occupy a low position in the Hindu social structure; their representation in government services is inadequate; they are inadequately represented in the fields of trade, commerce and industry; they suffer from social and physical isolation from the rest of the community, and there is general lack of education development amongst the major section of this community” (Dalits in India 2). However, this social, cultural, and political marginalization forms an undeniable link with environmental casteism. Manual scavenging, cleaning the dirt and menial jobs are forced on Dalits due to caste divisions. Access to natural resources such as clean air, clean water, healthy living, etc., is denied to them which results in environmental casteism. Hence, the issue of Dalits is socio-cultural-political-ecological in nature. Many Dalits writers like Baby Kamble, Urmila Pawar, Bama, Viramma, Om Prakash Valmiki, Balbir Madhopuri, Sharankumar Limbale, Kancha Illaiah, Daya Pawar, Jyoti Lanjewar, Hira Bansode, etc., in their writings, have represented the Dalits’ socio-ecological derogation and lived experiences of discrimination because of environmental casteism. Many prominent Dalit leaders and reformers like Jyotirao Phule, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Periyar, etc., have found that caste ideology and caste structures give rise to environmental casteism and domination by the few. They worked towards better living conditions for Dalits persistently and relentlessly. Many critics like Joel Lee, Mukul Sharma, etc., have affirmed that Indian environmental movements and academic environmental histories are dominated by mainstream and are fixed in casteism which has overlooked the unfair distribution of natural resources. This results in environmental casteism faced by Dalits unaddressed both in literary as well as public discourse.

 

 The edited book will be divided into two parts:

Part one will have the following sub-categories (The possible topics might include but are not limited to): 

• African American environmentalism
• African American aesthetics and the environment
• Environment as African American solace
• African Americans and environmental injustice
• African Americans and the environmental crisis
• African American identity and the environment
• African Americans and eco-racism
• African American poverty and the environment
• African Americans, religion, and the environment
• African Americans, culture, and the environment
• African Americans and democratization of environmental resources
• African American leaders’ legacy and the environment
• African American women and the environment

Part two will have the following sub-categories (The possible topics might include but are not limited to):

• Dalit environmentalism
• Dalit aesthetics and the environment
• Environment as Dalit solace
• Dalits and environmental injustice
• Dalits and the environmental crisis
• Dalit identity and the environment
• Dalits and eco-casteism
• Dalit poverty and the environment
• Dalits, religion, and the environment
• Dalits, culture, and the environment
• Dalits and democratization of environmental resources
• Dalits leaders’ legacy and the environment
• Dalit women and the environment

 The book aims to chart out the literary discourse around the sub-themes. Therefore, all these sub-themes are to be addressed through literature.

The work will be an edited book. Writers and activists, scholars, and academicians are invited to contribute their papers/articles for the project.

Abstracts (250-300 words) in English with a short bio note (50 words) as a Word document or pdf must be emailed to: shubhankukochar@outlook.com, by December 15, 2023.

 

Editors:

1. 1.      Name : Shubhanku Kochar (Ph. D)

Affiliation: Department of English, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka, India.

 

1. 2.       Name : Parveen Kumari (Ph.D)
   Affiliation: Department of English, Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India.

Call for Book Chapters: #Theorising #Gender in the Context of Cultural Limitations: Contemporary #Indian #Writing in #English

 No Publication or Subscription Fee/ Free Complimentary Copy

Call for Papers

Theorising Gender in the Context of Cultural Limitations: A Series of Book Chapters on Contemporary Indian Writing in English

Contemporary Indian Writing in English has gained an amazing momentum down the years. Indian writers of English have directly plunged into the world of the different confronting situations from the point of view of woman and the complex dilemmas of the human society. Feminists suggest that there should be a perfect harmony between man and woman. R. W. Connell “Theorising Gender”writes, A social theory of gender is implied and required by current sexual politics”. In fact, theories of social expectations and power relations between man and woman call for an advanced practical transcendence. Writers like Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Neelam Saxena Chandra and others have raised the questions of place and elaborated the different cultural issues. Many such writers express the same concerns of feminist theories - the different phases which a female has to undergo and suffer in the male focused society. It definitely includes the female consciousness in the light of gender based limitations and oppressions. Arising from a fertile milieu that fortifies social and political consciousness, Indian women writers have redefined themselves beyond the clutches of patriarchy.

This book project invites the application of different aspects of the gender theories on contemporary Indian Writing in English and accordingly calls upon the prospective contributors to explore the "woman question" raised by contemporary Indian writers of English.

Submission Guidelines

a) The submissions must be accompanied by a covering letter/page bearing the following information:

i. Full Name of the Author(s)

ii. Post/Research Scholar/Student

iii. Institutional Affiliations (if any)

iv. Contact Details of the Author(s) with Mobile Number

v. A self declaration that it is an original work and has not been published/ sent for publication anywhere else.

b) File must be in Microsoft Word format following MLA 8th edition

c) Contributors must avoid plagiarism and maintain a strict ethical stand regarding acknowledgement of works cited and ideas borrowed from others.

d) The papers submitted should evince serious academic work contributing new knowledge or innovative critical perspectives on the subject explored.

e) End notes and foot notes have to be avoided.

f) Title of the paper should be bold, capitalized and centered. The font should be 14 point.

g) In text the titles of books should be Italics and titles of articles from journals and books should be “quoted” and

h) Font of the text should be Times New Roman 12 point.

i) Line Spacing: 1.5.

j) There should be a margin of 1 inch on all four sides of the paper.

k) Word limit: Minimum 4000 and Maximum 5000 words.

l) There will be no publication charges.

m) Rejected papers won’t be sent back to the contributor(s).

n) Authors are requested to submit their manuscript along with a small abstract of 200 words via email on editor.literature@yahoo.com before Nov 15, 2023.

o) Authors are suggested to submit their bio details of 100-150 words using third person narrative.

p) The book will be published by the publisher of an international repute. Every contributor will receive a free complimentary copy of the book.

Editor

Dr. Vinita Basantani,

M U College of Commerce, Pimpri , Pune (India)

 

Call For Chapters: The Representation of Famines in Indian literatures -Routledge Publishing House

 The Representation of Famines in Indian literatures

 

The Proposed work will be submitted to Routledge under its ongoing series “South Asian Literature in Focus”

 

We are falling short of a couple of chapters for this edited work, kindly send your proposal/abstract byApril 5, 2024

According to the UN Refugee Agency, “[A] famine is a situation in which a substantial proportion of the population of a country or region is unable to access adequate food, resulting in widespread acute malnutrition and loss of life by starvation and disease.” Famines have played a vital role in shaping the world’s demography. Some examples of devastating famines that brought extreme changes in the demography are as follows:

Beginning with the “436 B.C. famine in Rome” when thousands of starving Romans threw themselves in the Tiber; “The Great Leap Forward Famine” of China (1959-1961), which resulted in the highest number of deaths by a single famine ever recorded; “The Great Irish Famine” in the late 1840s reduced the population of Ireland by a quarter; “The Bengal Famine” of 1770 lead to the death of one-third of the Bengali population.

Unfortunately, India has not been untouched by this destructive situation. Famines, caused mainly by droughts owing to shorter monsoon seasons, and disorderly distribution of food, have caused millions of deaths through the ages. It becomes imperative to understand the nature of these famines and, for a literature scholar, to understand the role of famines in literatures produced in different parts of India during different times and periods. The famines that shook the nation are:

 

Famines in Ancient and Medieval India

Although there has been a dearth of reliable data on famines in Ancient India, some definite famines are worth stating. One such example would be the Kashmir Famine of 917-918 A.D. The Kashmiri population saw a decline due to the flooding of Jhelum which washed away the crops. An up-to-date record of famines in the earlier period is not available, except for some scattered references in the history of the medieval period. In Mughal India famines and severe scarcities occurred in Akbar's regime during the years 1555-56, 1573-74, 1577, 1583-84 and 1595-98.

During the latter period of the Mughal empire, famines were witnessed during 1630-31 in Ahmednagar, Gujarat, and some parts of Malwa, in 1641 in Kashmir, Punjab in 1646. The years 1658-60 witnessed scarcities in Sindh, Surat, the eastern coast, and Gujarat. Emperors made provisions for the distribution of food and granted tax concessions on transported food. Grain was purchased from surplus provinces and sold at a cheap price. Again, the years 1687, 1702-04 and 1747 saw scarcities of food, fodder and of drinking water. According to H.S. Srivastava, "In 1687, even rich men were reduced to beggary on account of scarcity of food and fodder. The scarcity of water in 1747 was so great that men could not get water even to wash their faces. Men and cattle perished in large numbers."

 

 

Famines During East India Company Regime

The Bengal Famine 1770

The first famine during the East India Company took place in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1770, caused by the continuous crop failures in 1768, 1769 and 1770. According to official estimates, one-third (approximately 10 million) inhabitants of Bengal fell victim to starvation. Prices rose 4 to 10 times the ordinary rates. Even children were offered for sale but there were no purchasers: "The country was so depopulated and deserted that once fertile and populous parts were described by a traveller as a 'pathless forest'."  People went on dying but nothing appeared to have been done to relieve them, except the measures of laying an embargo on the export of food grains and display of a proclamation upon the doors of public offices throughout the Company's dominions against hoarding and buying up of grain. These measures proved an absolute failure.

Nineteenth-century has been known as a century of famines, though the recurrence and severity of each famine were relatively less during the first half of it. Major famines occurred in 1802-04, 1806-07, 1812, 1824, 1825-26, 1932- 34, 1937-38 and 1854, all local and witnessed in different parts of the country during different times.

 

Famines under British Rule

Famines 1860-80

This period of 20 years has been characterized as the most crucial period of agricultural distress which the Indian economy has ever experienced before. First among the series of famines occurred in 1860-61 in North West Provinces including Ajmer-Merwara and adjoining districts of Punjab partly as a result of local disturbances in 1857 during which villages were plundered and burnt so that local stores of grain had been destroyed, and partly as a consequence of unseasonal rains in 1860.

The Great Famine of 1876-78

This famine has been described as the ‘most grievous calamity of its kind that the country had experienced till then, since the beginning of the 19th century’ in the 1880 report by the Famine Commission, and A. Loveday—the author of The History and Economics of Indian Famines—calls it ‘The most extensive famine which India has experienced since the predominance of British power.’ In all, a total area of 2,05,600 sq. miles covering a population of 36.4 million was affected. Official estimates of human mortality stood at 10.32 million. William Digby, however, states that actual mortality was probably much higher than the official estimates. Relief measures adopted in different provinces included the import of food grains to famine-stricken areas, imposition of '1 lb. ration' per day per famine worker, provision for relief works, liberal money advances to the distressed population for purchase of seeds and construction of wells and tanks. Gratuitous relief was in limited areas.

Bengal Famine of 1943

India experienced several scarcities but no major famine for thirty-five years from 1908 to 1942. The scarcities did not involve considerable loss of life. It was in 1943 when Bengal was confronted with a severe famine. The famine was the result of a series of crop failures that Bengal had met since 1938. The outbreak of the Second World War aggravated the situation. War affected Bengal in many ways. Normal imports of food grains from Burma ceased. Wartime controls dislocated private trading and movement of food grains on account of provincial and even district barriers against the movement of grains. There was greater demand for food for army personnel and the influx of refugees from Burma. The famine might be called "more man-made than an act of God". Man's part in this tragic drama was 'the failure on the part of the administration to foresee the beginning of the war in 1939and to take timely action to meet it.

 

Famines since Independence

Fortunately, India did not face any widespread famine since the disastrous famine of Bengal, though there were a series of short-lived local scarcities in different parts of the country till the great famine of 1970-73. The years of relatively widespread scarcities since independence are 1952- 53, 1965-67 and 1970-73. One outstanding case would be that of Kalahandi. According to newspaper reports, in 1993, some 11 million people were severely affected when a drought-induced crisis affected around 600 villages in Kalahandi and its surrounding areas, and almost 500 people were reported to have starved to death. Recent reports suggest that thousands, facing starvation and disease, have migrated to other regions (including some major regional cities) in search of a livelihood.

It will be seen from the history of Indian famines that a long-term policy for reducing the possibility of recurring famines is necessary. Even after more than 75 years of independence, we have not made suitable changes in the famine relief policy and famine works adopted by the foreign Government of India.

 

Indian literature is rich in the representation of the role and impact of famines on the nation-state, communities, and individuals coming from varying backgrounds. According to Mandira Ghosh, in Bengal, a new brand of literature called ‘natun sahitya’ or a new variety of progressive literature was created, because the sensibilities of a section of the progressive middle class were offended, since people begged and died of starvation for lack of food. Other writers like Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, whose Ashani Sanket (Intimations of Thunder, 1944–1946)interrogate the representation of bodies during the Bengal famine of 1943; Bhabani Bhattacharya’s novels, So Many Hungers! (1947) and He Who Rides a Tiger (1954), provide an epistemological alternative to imperial narratives about the Bengal famine of 1943; Bankimchandra Chattopadhyaya’s Anandmath (1882) is based on the devastating Bengal Famine of 1770. These are a few among the plethora of works based on famines across India.

 

The contributors are required to address one of the following sub-themes:

 

The literary representation of famines in Ancient India

The literary representation of famines in Medieval India

The literary representation of famines in Mughal India

The literary representation of famines in British India

The literary representation of famines in Post-independent India

The literary representation of famines in Contemporary/21st century India

 

This project aims to chart out the chronological history of the representation of famines in Indian literatures in English and translations.

Abstracts (150-200 words) in English with a short bio note (100 words) as a Word document must be emailed to: shubhankukochar@outlook.com, by or before January16, 2024

 Editors:

 1.   Name : Shubhanku Kochar (Ph. D)

Affiliation: Department of English, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka, India.

 2     Name : Parveen Kumari (Ph.D)

Affiliation: Department of English, Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India.

 

Invitation to Publish: Contribute to #Environment and #Society #BookSeries

 Environment and Society, a book series published by Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, is seeking proposals covering a broad range of topics in environmental studies from the perspectives of the social sciences and humanities. Learn more about the 30 books already in the series on the publisher’s website: https://rowman.com/Action/SERIES/_/LEXES

Books in this series include both monographs and edited volumes that are grounded in the realities of ecological issues identified by the natural sciences. Our authors and contributors come from disciplines including but not limited to anthropology, architecture, area studies, communication studies, economics, ethics, gender studies, geography, history, law, pedagogy, philosophy, political science, psychology, religious studies, sociology, and theology. To foster a constructive dialogue between these researchers and environmental scientists, the Environment and Society series publishes work that is relevant to those engaged in environmental studies, while also being of interest to scholars from the author’s primary discipline.

As scholars examine the environmental challenges facing humanity, they increasingly recognize that solutions require a focus on the human causes and consequences of these threats, and not merely a focus on the scientific and technical issues. To meet this need, books in this series help the reader understand contemporary environmental concerns, while offering concrete steps to address these problems.

Please send proposals for Environment and Society to General Editor Douglas Vakoch (dvakoch@meti.org) and Acquisitions Editor Courtney Morales (cmorales@rowman.com).

Proposal Guidelines:

To submit a proposal, please send:

• a prospectus (see below for details)
• a detailed table of contents
• one or two sample chapters
• your curriculum vitae

If you are proposing a contributed volume, please include titles, affiliations, and brief resumes for each of the contributors. The prospectus should include:

• A description of the book, describing the core themes, arguments, issues, goals, and/or topics of the work, what makes it unique, what questions it seeks to answer, and why you are qualified to write it (2–5 pages).
• A description of your target audience (undergraduate or graduate students? scholars? professionals?).
• An analysis of competing or similar books (including publishers and dates), indicating distinctive and original elements of your project that set it apart from these other works.
• A list of courses in which your book might be used as a text or supplementary text, indicating the course level at which this book may be used.
• An indication of whether any part of your manuscript has been published previously, and if it is a doctoral dissertation, what changes you are proposing to prepare it for publication.
• The length of the manuscript either as a word count. Will there be figures, tables, or other non-text material, and, if so, approximately how many? If the text is not complete, please still estimate its final length, not including the non-text material.
• If the manuscript is not complete, an estimation of when it will be finished. Is there a particular date by which you hope the book will be published (due to a historical anniversary, conference, etc.?)
• The names of four to seven respected scholars in your field with whom you have no personal or professional relationship. Include their titles, affiliations, e-mail addresses, and/or mailing addresses.
• An indication of whether the manuscript is under consideration by other publishers.

Call for Papers: Ecocritical Theory and Practice Book Series

 

Ecocritical Theory and Practice, a book series published by Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, is seeking proposals at the interface of literary/cultural studies and the environment. Learn more about the 90+ books already published in the series on the publisher’s website: https://rowman.com/Action/SERIES/_/ETAP/Ecocritical-Theory-and-Practice

Works that explore environmental issues through literatures, oral traditions, and cultural/media practices around the world are welcome. The series features books by established ecocritics that examine the intersection of theory and practice, including both monographs and edited volumes. Contemporary and historical works are equally appropriate.

Proposals are invited in the range of topics covered by ecocriticism, including but not limited to works informed by

• cross-cultural and transnational approaches
• postcolonial studies
• ecofeminism
• ecospirituality, ecotheology, and religious studies
• film/media and visual cultural studies
• environmental aesthetics and arts
• ecopoetics
• animal studies.

Please send proposals for Ecocritical Theory and Practice to General Editor Douglas Vakoch (dvakoch@meti.org) and Acquisitions Editor Courtney Morales (cmorales@rowman.com).

Proposal Guidelines:

To submit a proposal, please send:

• a prospectus (see below for details)
• a detailed table of contents
• one or two sample chapters
• your curriculum vitae

If you are proposing a contributed volume, please include titles, affiliations, and brief resumes for each of the contributors. The prospectus should include:

• A description of the book, describing the core themes, arguments, issues, goals, and/or topics of the work, what makes it unique, what questions it seeks to answer, and why you are qualified to write it (2–5 pages).
• A description of your target audience (undergraduate or graduate students? scholars? professionals?).
• An analysis of competing or similar books (including publishers and dates), indicating distinctive and original elements of your project that set it apart from these other works.
• A list of courses in which your book might be used as a text or supplementary text, indicating the course level at which this book may be used.
• An indication of whether any part of your manuscript has been published previously, and if it is a doctoral dissertation, what changes you are proposing to prepare it for publication.
• The length of the manuscript either as a word count. Will there be figures, tables, or other non-text material, and, if so, approximately how many? If the text is not complete, please still estimate its final length, not including the non-text material.
• If the manuscript is not complete, an estimation of when it will be finished. Is there a particular date by which you hope the book will be published (due to a historical anniversary, conference, etc.?)
• The names of four to seven respected scholars in your field with whom you have no personal or professional relationship. Include their titles, affiliations, e-mail addresses, and/or mailing addresses.
• An indication of whether the manuscript is under consideration by other publishers.

Ecocritical Theory and Practice’s Advisory Board:

• Auður Aðalsteinsdóttir (Iceland)
• Sinan Akıllı (Turkey)
• Zélia Bora (Brazil)
• Nicolás Campisi (USA)
• Chan Kit-sze Amy (Hong Kong)
• Michelle Deininger (Wales)
• Nicole Dittmer (USA)
• Melanie Ruth Duckworth (Norway)
• Jonathan Elmore (USA)
• Lenka Filipova (Germany)
• Christina Holmes (USA)
• Peter I-min Huang (Taiwan)
• Serenella Iovino (USA)
• Özlem Karadağ (Turkey)
• Katarina Leppänen (Sweden)
• Keitaro Morita (Japan)
• Anupama Nayar C V (India)
• Serpil Oppermann (Turkey)
• John Charles Ryan (Australia)
• Joshua Schuster (Canada)
• Murali Sivaramakrishnan (India)
• Scott Slovic (USA)
• David Taylor (USA)
• Rebekah Taylor-Wiseman (USA)