Interrogating Ecological Imperialism in the Neocolonialised Northeast: Selected Reading of Desmond L. Kharmawphlang’s Ecopoetry

Abstract

While the mainstream narrative of Indian Independence has been limited to racism, history and politics, the 1990s saw a widespread inclusion of environmental humanities in theoretical and literary efforts. Such an ethical engagement witnessed the ‘greening’ of (post)colonialism in the Global South as advocated by the ecological imperialism that aimed to understand the bio-power politics between nature, culture, race and imperialism. Keeping this in consideration, the article shall attempt to explore ecological imperialism in the contemporary neo-colonial period and how the Northeast India has interacted to it. For this purpose, the cultural and ecological alteration of the region shall be traced through the globalised machineries of development, progress, climate change, capitalism, insurgency and modernism as addressed in the selected ecopoetry of Desmond L. Kharmawphlang. This has been done with the intention to foreground their indigenous orality, myths, naturism and egalitarianism as it not only locates poesy in creativity but also in nature. In addition, the article shall also attempt to trace the degeneration of tribalism, deterritoriality, cultural and identity crisis with an aim to open necessary dialogism to understand the unique relationship between nature and culture of the Northeast in the postnatural period of the Anthropocene. Such an attempt seems crucial and relevant as ecopoetry considers ecological poetry as a potential carrier of ecological awareness and a hopeful saviour of the planet that could engage readers to understand the infliction of ‘slow and invisible’ violence in the Northeast that altered both the social and ecological imprints of the marginalized region. Additionally, the idea of ‘environmentalism of the poor’ shall also be investigated to initiate the process for reterritorialisation through the efforts of bioregionalism and indigenous studies. It would thereafter empower the marginalised communities of the Northeast and help them reestablish their connection with nature and territoriality in the neocolonial period.