Environmental humanities: the need to expand our understanding of nature  Premium

Environmental humanities is a way forward to understand the environment from a holistic perspective, by including the perspectives of marginalised communities and by recognising the agency of non-humans.

Aiyadurai, Ambika and Shandilya, Trishita, ‘Environmental Humanities as a Way Forward’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 58, Issue 31, August 5, 2023

The environment, from an academic point of view, has for centuries been understood from the lens of science. Scholars and experts have explored issues related to ecology and the environment through a utilitarian understanding of nature. While studies around the relationship between humans and nature have been more forthcoming in the last few decades, the field of environmental humanities is relatively recent.

The paper discussed here is an introduction to environmental humanities that encompasses the traditional understanding of human and non-human interactions within nature which result in sustainable co-existence.

Positioning themselves as scholars working on environmental humanities in a science and technology institute where the discipline of humanities and social sciences is part of their coursework, the authors explain how the mere introduction of humanities as a chapter would not help remove the dichotomy between the sciences and the bias against the “soft sciences”. The authors critique how mainstream debates on the environment in such setups are devoid of any discussion on human nature interactions and issues of social justice with regard to environmental issues. The authors explain that instead of looking at science as the only solace to providing solutions to environmental issues, disciplines of humanities and social sciences must also be taken seriously to understand indigenous epistemologies that broaden our understanding of nature.

While explaining the need to move away from a Western knowledge system and the solutions it provides, the authors also warn us against a unified understanding of the traditional knowledge system of the environment. The nationalist project such as the Indian Knowledge Systems is dangerous as it is a mere replacement for the Western understanding of nature. It lacks the multitude of narratives and perspectives from various social and marginalised groups that discuss the entanglement of human beings with the environment.

In India, nature has been considered intrinsically connected to society and culture. The nation is seen through the lens of nature, ecology or as a sense of place. There are two dominant understandings of a nation. The first one considers the nation as one place where nature is universal to its citizens as an ecological reality. Ecological nationalism is used to justify the utilisation or restriction of nature. The second understanding goes beyond the unitary sense of nation or nationalism and finds multiple perspectives that define the nation in connection to nature — as the affiliation to a piece of land and to its people who have various cultural identities. It is a sense of belonging, despite diverse notions about the ecology and environment.

In India, there are various narratives that help us rethink the relationship between man and nature. The authors attribute today’s environmental challenges to utilitarian progress models that have extracted natural resources from the environment, disregarding these narratives. In looking at the environment as a physical entity meant to be exploited according to man’s wishes, neo-liberal establishments have separated people’s indigenous experiences and narratives from our understanding of nature.