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Title Environmental Injustice: A Queer Ecofeminist Study of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Author(s) HASAN ABBAS KAZMI

Abstract The research explores and analyses Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness through the lens of Greta Gaard’s Queer Ecofeminism. The research deals with the treatment and projection of nature in the Booker’s Prize winner novel by Arundhati Roy in the light of the principles of ecocriticsm. Roy presents a complete and contemporary picture of India’s nature, humanity, politics, religion, development and environmental crisis. At the same time it draws the attention of the reader towards the ongoing development and globalization process where “luxury” is dominating the “necessity”. The novel is analyzed through these ideas by looking at the identity quest of the protagonist Anjum and her relation to the nature; sometimes too close and then far away, parallel to the culture; where a transgender cannot live a peaceful life in a noble family. Environmental concerns are traced though the representation of chaos and human/animal representation in the society as presented by Arundhati Roy. Roy’s imagery is analyzed so as to find the reason of their existence and to see if it has any connection with the politics, economics, development and industrialization etc. Many events of the novel refer to the environmental crisis faced by this region of the world. The unhealthy nutrition among the human population is highlighted where injected chickens are produced for commercial use. The army occupation of the Indian held Kashmir by its large number of troops exerts a great burden on the natural resources of this beautiful green valley. Due to the busy activities of army, roads are constructed and development can be seen to facilitate these troops in every possible manner. All these social injustices are highlighted and analyzed so as to evaluate their interconnections with each other according to the theoretical ideas of Greta Gaard. Gaard stresses to put an equal emphasis on all the oppressed groups and to focus on the interconnections between all the oppressed groups. She believes that a combination of same authority is responsible for the exploitation of the oppressed groups as she has explained that in her essay. The use of political narratives can usually be seen for oppressing the oppressed. This research therefore is focused to lay an equal emphasis on all the oppressed groups as suggested by Gaard.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2019-10-25

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