Proceedings of The 7th World Conference on Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Postcolonial Development and Khasi Culture: Reading Desmond Kharmawphlang’s Poems Through Indigenous Ecocriticism
Assistant Professor Sayantan Chakraborty
ABSTRACT:
The Khasi community has a rich cultural heritage and environmental philosophy. However, development activities which relentlessly exploit the natural resources have greatly disturbed the nature-culture relationship of the Khasi community. Desmond Kharmawphlang, a Khasi poet, is concerned about the disturbance in the cultural relationship of his community with the natural world. The complex effects of development on people and the environment across the world are a common theme in postcolonial literature, yet there is a discernible lack of critical attention from postcolonial critics when it comes to the effects on indigenous communities. This article aims to read Kharmawphlang’s poems through indigenous ecocriticism to expose the interlink between the exploitation of the Khasis and the natural environment of the Khasi Hills.
keywords: Postcolonial development, Indigenous Ecocriticism, Khasi Culture