Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations January 2016 Violence, Militarism and the Environment in Contemporary South Asian Literature Saba Pirzadeh Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations Recommended Citation Pirzadeh, Saba, "Violence, Militarism and the Environment in Contemporary South Asian Literature" (2016). Open Access Dissertations. 1294. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1294 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School Form 30 Updated 1/15/2015 PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Saba Pirzadeh Entitled VIOLENCE, MILITARISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Is approved by the final examining committee: Aparajita Sagar Chair Alfred Lopez Jennifer Freeman Marshall Bill Mullen To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy of Integrity in Research” and the use of copyright material. Approved by Major Professor(s): Aparajita Sagar Approved by: Ryan Schneider 4/13/2016 Head of the Departmental Graduate Program Date i VIOLENCE, MILITARISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Saba Pirzadeh In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2016 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor Dr. Aparajita Sagar for her excellent guidance and constant encouragement during the writing of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Dr. Lopez, Dr. Freeman Marshall, and Dr. Mullen for their constructive feedback on my work. Lastly I would like to thank my family and friends for their unwavering support throughout this endeavor. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1. ATTACKING INHABITANCY: COLONIAL RULE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPLOITATION .......................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 2. CONTESTED TERRAIN: ETHNO-NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONQUEST ........................................................................ 69 CHAPTER 3. ENVIRONMENTAL OTHERING: WARFARE, SPATIAL APPRAISAL, AND TERRITORIAL EXPLOITATION ............................................... 110 CHAPTER 4. MILITARISTIC LEGACIES: PRECARITY, WAR TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL WEAPONIZATION .......................................................... 150 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................. 191 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 202 iv ABSTRACT Pirzadeh, Saba. Ph.D., Purdue University, May 2016. Violence, Militarism and the Environment in Contemporary South Asian Literature. Major Professor: Aparajita Sagar. Current literary scholarship on the rise in violence and militarism within South Asia is guided by an anthropocentric focus and lacks a sustained discussion of the environmental implications of the phenomenon. Tracing the buildup of this phenomenon, this dissertation uses literary explication to argue that colonial violence and postcolonial militarism subject the environment to teleological appraisal and material exploitation for purposes of utilitarianism. This analysis draws upon Anglophone South Asian novels from 1954-2013 written by Kamala Markandaya, Kiran Desai, Uzma Khan, Mirza Waheed and Nadeem Aslam. Despite their varying political and geographical contexts, these novels share an interest in the lived realities of human-environment interactions by highlighting how people rely on the land as dwelling, resource, borderland, and shelter. Focusing on the literary and cultural representations of the environment within these novels, this dissertation examines the following processes—the colonial systemization of environmental objectification, the propagation of eco-conquest by ethno-nationalist movements, the reductive conceptualization or Othering of nature during war, and the ecological precarity generated by militaristic legacies. By paying attention to the narrative, visual and linguistic elements of the chosen novels this study v establishes how the onslaught of violence and militarism rupture the human-environment dynamic, recast the environment in utilitarian terms, produce natural degradation and endanger human existence. An explication of these processes underscores the productive and destructive ways in which violence determines conceptions and treatment of the environment. In doing so, this dissertation establishes environmental co-optation as an integral part of the politics and modus operandi of colonial exploitation, ethno-nationalist insurgencies and transnational militant conflicts in South Asia. 1 INTRODUCTION This study explicates the evolution of violence and its environmental repercussions as depicted in Anglophone South Asian literature (published from 1954- 2013). Historically contextualizing the trajectory of violence, this dissertation argues that colonial, ethno-nationalist and the more recent militaristic violence alter the environment (and its conceptions) in salient ways. Through its narrativization of violence “as politico- economic tool, material experience and symbolic domination” (Visweswaran 3), the chosen literature illuminates how violence not only depletes the environment but reworks it for purposes of consumption. The literary works include novels by Kamala Markandaya, Kiran Desai, Uzma Khan, Mirza Waheed and Nadeem Aslam which depict sociopolitical realities of India, Pakistan, Kashmir, and Afghanistan over the last sixty years. Highlighting the ecocritical dimensions of violence through critical readings of these narratives the study explicates the following processes—the colonial systemization of environmental objectification, the propagation of eco-conquest by ethno-nationalist movements, the reductive conceptualization or Othering of nature during war, and the ecological precarity generated by militaristic legacies. In doing so, this dissertation draws attention to the ways that the environment is subjected to the organizational, ideological 2 and experiential aspects of violence and argues for the need to address the ecological fallout of these phenomenon. Although the impact of violence in South Asia has been analyzed through an anthropocentric lens in history, anthropology, and feminist studies, it has not been examined extensively from an environmental perspective1. Given the increasing conflict over natural spaces as boundary markers, nationalist territories, resource reserves and military bases within South Asia, it becomes imperative to study the ways in which violence is influencing the environment. Building upon the intersectional approaches to militarism within existing scholarship, this study analyses selected literary works to trace a genealogy of violence across pre-Partition, post-Partition, and post 9/11 years. The texts span years of colonial occupation, nationalist/ ethno-national struggles, and global military campaigns which have indelibly shaped nation states and are key in understating evolution of violence in the region. Studies have shown that British colonizers employed violence as a repressive tactic “both in ordinary everyday life and during extraordinary moments of war” and in 1 For additional discussions on violence in South Asia see the following scholars: Anuradha Chenoy. "Gender and International Politics: The Intersections of Patriarchy and Militarization." Indian Journal of Gender Studies 11.1 (2004): 27-42. ProQuest. 16 March 2016; Bruce Kapferer. Legends of People, Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri Lanka and Australia. Washington, DC: Smithson. Inst. Press, 1988. Print; Cynthia Keppley Mahmood. Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues with Sikh Militants. Philadelphia: Univ. Penn. Press, 1996. Print; Ian Talbot. "Militarism in India: The Army and Civil Society in Consensus." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 62.3 (1999): 584-85. ProQuest, 16 March 2016; P Sahadevan. "Ethnic Conflicts and Militarism in South Asia." International Studies 39.2 (2002): 103-38. Print; Kamala Visweswaran, ed. Everyday Occupations: Experiencing Militarism in South Asia and Middle East. Philadelphia: U of Philadelphia P, 2013. Print; Savitri Goonesekerei. Violence, Law and Women's rights in South Asia. New York: Sage, 2004. Print; Srila Roy. "The Ethical Ambivalence of Resistant Violence: Notes from Postcolonial South Asia." Feminist Review 91 (2009): 135-53. Print; Stanley Tambiah. Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia. (Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press, 1996. Print); Veena Das, ed. Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots