Ecocritical Post Colonialism and Plantationocene: A Comparative Study of Sky Is My Father by Easterine Kire and Aranyak by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Abstract

Sky Is My Father is a historical novel by Easterine Kire who writes about the life of Naga indigenous people living amidst naturally rich mountain scape and forced recruitment of Naga tribesmen as bonded labourers by the British which tribal warriors of the Angami tribe try to resist against. Their fight is the collective fight of their community to save the land which they are deeply connected to from British invasion and subjugation. Britain’s colonization of the third world countries have always brought with it deforestation and disruption of habitat of indigenous people and native plant species. Similarly, Bibhutibhushan’s Aranyak is a novel on Satyacharan’s predicament in the pristine jungles of Bhagalpur where he is posted. His guilt comes from the job he is sent there to do which is to cut down the forest that is not only important to the native community there but to him as well. Capitalocene and Plantationocene as Donna Haraway defines is a contemporary epoch which has its roots in European Imperialism. This imperial legacy of rampant exploitation and destruction of environment which is singlehandedly a contribution of Britain’s colonial rule includes subjugation of indigenous people into forced labour along with destruction of forest spaces for resource extraction. What entails as a result is postcolonial trauma within native psyche. Post colonial literatures coming out of South Asia like Sky Is My Father and Aranyak essentially discusses Britain’s expansion, coercive policies and their after effect on the native people of India in relation to the ecological disruption around them.