Eco-Nostalgia and Environmental Consciousness in Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide and Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss

Abstract

This study investigates the intersection of ecological displacement and diasporic consciousness in contemporary Indian English fiction, specifically examining how environmental nostalgia functions as a crucial yet underexplored dimension of identity formation in diaspora literature. Through comparative ecocritical analysis of Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide (2004) and Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss (2006), this research employs close textual reading, thematic analysis, and postcolonial ecocritical approaches to examine representations of nature, landscape, and environmental knowledge as markers of diasporic identity. The analysis reveals that both novels portray environmental displacement as equally significant to cultural displacement in shaping diasporic consciousness. Ghosh's Sundarbans and Desai's Kalimpong function not merely as geographical settings but as active agents in constructing and deconstructing notions of home, belonging, and identity. The study identifies three primary manifestations of eco-nostalgia: (1) landscape as repository of collective memory, (2) traditional ecological knowledge as cultural inheritance, and (3) environmental degradation as catalyst for displacement. This research pioneers the integration of ecocriticism with diaspora studies, proposing the theoretical framework of "eco-diasporic consciousness" to address gaps in current scholarship. It contributes to contemporary discussions of climate migration and environmental justice while expanding the analytical tools available for the study of twenty-first-century diasporic literature.