A postcolonial ecocritical approach to Animal's People by Indra Sinha

This study seeks to present a postcolonial ecocritical analysis of Indra Sinha's Animal's People (2007) by examining how the novel deconstructs the binary opposition between human and nonhuman beings. This binary opposition is regarded as the main cause lying behind long-standing social and ecological calamities. As a fictional re-working of the Bhopal Disaster (1984) in India, Sinha's novel paves the way for merging the postcolonial and ecocritical approaches to study the historical causes and ecological consequences of the human/nonhuman divide. The postcolonial ecocriticism rising from this convergence offers a theoretical framework for analysing how literature reflects the ecological problems in postcolonial environments that result from anthropocentric perspectives. Presenting a critique of these perspectives, the novel emphasizes the significance of ecocentrism claiming that all human and nonhuman beings in the ecosystem are interconnected and intrinsically valuable. Examining Animal's People's portrayal of a postcolonial environment through postcolonial ecocritical approach, this study reveals the great role of literature and literary criticism in raising ecological awareness at the regional and global level. Keywords: Indra Sinha, Animal's People, Postcolonial Ecocriticism, Human,Nonhuman Beings