ARCHITECTURE OF ECOTOPIA: A STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY FICTIONAL AND NON-FICTIONAL NARRATIVES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SELF SUSTAINING COMMUNITIES (Thesis submitted to Nagaland University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English) By SILPIREKHA PANDIT Registration No. 690/2015 Under the Supervision of DR. ROSEMARY DZUVICHU DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND EDUCATION NAGALAND UNIVERSITY, KOHIMA CAMPUS MERIEMA MAY 2017 1 DECLARATION I, Silpirekha Pandit, hereby declare that the subject matter of my thesis entitled Architecture of Ecotopia: A Study of Contemporary Fictional and Non-Fictional Narratives for Development of Self Sustaining Communities, is the bonafide record of work done by me and that the contents of this thesis did not form the basis of the award of any previous degree to me to the best of my knowledge to anybody else, and that the thesis has not been submitted by me for any research degree in any other university or institute. This is being submitted to the Nagaland University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English. (SILPIREKHA PANDIT) Countersigned by: Ph.D.Scholar Registration No. 690/2015 Supervisor: Head: 2 Nagaland University (A Central University established by the act of Parliament, 35/1989) Department of English Kohima Campus, Kohima- 797001 NU / Eng / 2017/ 19th May 2017 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis entitled Architecture of Ecotopia: A Study of Contemporary Fictional and Non-Fictional Narratives for Development of Self Sustaining Communities, is a bonafide record of research work done by Ms.Silpirekha Pandit, Regn.No. 690/2015, Department of English, Nagaland University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, this thesis has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or other title and that the thesis represents independent and original work on the part of the candidate under my supervision. This is again certified that the research has been undertaken as per UGC regulations 2009 and the candidate has fulfilled the criteria mentioned in the University Ordinances-OC-4. Sub-section 5(i) of the Section-9 for submission of the thesis and UGC regulations amended upto 2016. The 19th of May, 2017 SUPERVISOR Kohima Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu Associate Professor & Head Department of English Nagaland University, Kohima Campus, Meriema, Kohima-797001, Nagaland, Mob. +91-8974248224, 3 Email:[email protected] ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all those people who have helped and supported me in the course of my research work. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my Supervisor, Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu, for her unstinted support throughout the course of my research. I am certain that I would not have been able to complete my research without her constant encouragement and at times exhortations. Her patience and energy has always been a source of inspiration. I extend my gratitude to the Department of English, Nagaland University, for providing me the opportunity to register myself as a research scholar in the department. I am thankful to all the faculty members of the Department, especially Dr.Nigamananda Das who helped in the initial stages of my arrival in Kohima, and for offering his valuable suggestions and guidance with which they initiated us into basics of research methodology. I would also like to acknowledge the necessary support and cooperation received from the administrative staff and office of Kohima Campus, Nagaland University, Meriema. I am indebted to the blessings of a few teachers like Professor Madhumita Roy and Professor Sanjib Nag, of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal. I extend my gratitude to my teacher Professor Sanjadhi Chatterjee for constantly inspiring me to be a learner and helping me to develop my skills for observation. I extend my hearty gratitude to my senior Dr. Arpan Dasgupta for his constant support and guidance all throughout my thesis and his patience while guiding me through the research work. 4 Last but not the least, my gratitude to my father – Dr.Manoranjan Pandit, my mother – Gitanjali Gogoi Pandit, my in-laws and my brother for supporting me in the course of my research work. Finally, I would like to express by hearty thanks and gratitude to my husband, Ar.Mrinal Phulkonwar, for being patient and bearing me through this process, while being a constant pillar of support, mentor and friend, who helped me achieve the results of my research work in the due course of time. The research would not have been fruitful without your valuable suggestions. It is only for their constant moral support which gave me the inner strength to fight it out every single day. I took them for granted ‘coz, I know, thesis or without thesis, you people do the most important thing to me – ‘You let me Live’. I am sorry if I have missed out on someone or could not recall while writing this. I am indebted to every single person for being there. Silpirekha Pandit Registration No. 690/2015 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER-I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 7 1.1 Introduction to Ecotopia ........................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Urbanization ............................................................................................................................ 10 1.3 Traditional System .................................................................................................................. 14 1.4 Environmental Crisis in the 21st Century ............................................................................... 17 1.5 Relationship between the Human Species and the Ecosystem ............................................... 20 1.6 The Environmental Movement ............................................................................................... 25 1.7 The Quest for Sustainable Development ................................................................................ 26 1.8 Concept of Sustainable Community ....................................................................................... 27 1.9 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 28 CHAPTER-II: ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF ERNEST CALLENBACH .............. 31 2.1. Environmental Ethics ............................................................................................................. 31 2.2. Religious Foundations of Environmental Ethics ................................................................... 38 2.3. Concept of Ecological Utopia 'ECOTOPIA' .......................................................................... 46 2.4 Ernest Callenbach's 'Ecotopia': A Utopian Analysis .............................................................. 47 2.5 The Utopian Values of 'Ecotopia Emerging' by Ernest Callenbach ....................................... 57 2.6. Comparative Analysis ff 'Ecotopia' and 'Ecotopia Emerging' ............................................... 62 2.7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 65 CHAPTER-III: MURRAY BOOKCHIN AND THE FREEDOM FROM CAPITALISM .. 68 3.1 Environmental Movements around the World ........................................................................ 68 3.2 The Revolutionary Politics of Murray Bookchin.................................................................... 78 6 3.3. Dimensions of Social Ecology ............................................................................................... 86 3.4. Social Ecology and Social Movements.................................................................................. 89 3.5. Social Ecology and the Future of Society .............................................................................. 91 3.6. The Final Ecological Society as Propounded by Bookchin ................................................... 94 3.7. Radical Ecology as the Final Product .................................................................................... 97 CHAPTER-IV: CONCEPTS OF ARCHITECTURAL ECOLOGY BY EBENEZER HOWARD AND WILLIAM MORRIS............................................................................... 103 4.1. Arts and Craft Theory .......................................................................................................... 103 4.2. Garden City Concept by Ebenezer Howard ......................................................................... 116 4.3. Sustainability and the Tangible Society ............................................................................... 130 4.4. Morris and Howard: A Comparison .................................................................................... 133 4.5. The Fabian Society: The Conclusion ................................................................................... 136 CHAPTER-V: THE ECO-ETHICAL MODES IN INDIAN VASTU LITERATURE ...... 143 5.1. Introduction to Indian Vastu Shastra ................................................................................... 143 5.2. Factors of Vastu Shastra .....................................................................................................