Abstract
Climate change has diverse impacts that disproportionately affect marginalised communities, exacerbating existing inequalities. In the Indian context, climate change has been experienced for decades, particularly affecting Dalits and Adivasi communities who rely on nature for sustenance but have limited resources to adapt. Thus, recognition of caste as a significant factor in climate action policies is crucial. In the same vein, environmental literature in India has often neglected the ecological perspectives of marginalised castes. This oversight stems from the assumption that Dalits are subsumed within broader categories of poverty and vulnerability. This chapter aims to examine Dalit literature, often viewed as protest literature, as a valuable insight into the interactions between Dalits and their environments. By exploring Baby Kamble's The Prisons We Broke and Bama's Karukku the intricate relationship between Dalits and nature can be illuminated, contributing to ecological, literary, and cultural theories.
TopMapping Indian Environmentalism
Initially, discussions surrounding the environment primarily centred around saving ‘wild nature or wilderness’ in the United States and ‘safeguarding the countryside’ in Europe (Elliott, 2023). These discussions gradually expanded to encompass a wider range of concerns, including climate change, global warming, toxicity, and their intersections with ethnicity and gender. In the Indian context, conflicts over natural resources were already prevalent during the colonial era, as the struggles for resources fuelled conflicts between the colonisers and the colonised. Consequently, environmental movements in India emerged with the goal of advocating for social justice for disenfranchised communities. As stated by Ramachandra Guha, “Indian environmentalism was an environmentalism of the poor, which married the concerns of social justice on the one hand with sustainability on the other” (2013, n.p.).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Climate Change: This refers to long-term changes in the planet’s climate, primarily caused by human activities and leading to global warming and significant impacts on weather patterns, sea levels, biodiversity, and ecosystems.
Ecology: The study of the functioning, evolution, and responses of ecosystems to different factors, as well as the relationships between living organisms and their environments.
Eco-Casteism: A connection between ecological exploitation and degradation and caste-based discrimination.
Caste: It denotes a social and occupational grouping of individuals within a society, typically tied to specific professions or social classes and passed down through generations. While the concept of caste has been historically present in several societies, it has particularly played a significant role in India.
Dalit: This term, previously referred to as ‘untouchable’, is used to advocate for social justice and equal opportunities for a community that has historically faced marginalisation and oppression in South Asia, particularly in India, as a result of their position at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system.
Protest Literature: Written works created with the aim of expressing dissent, criticism, or resistance against various social, political, economic, or cultural injustices, either implicitly or explicitly.
Ecocriticism: A field of study that analyses the relationships between literature, ecology, and the environmental discourse.