Paper Session 9A: Environmental Aesthetics
Friday, May 21: 4:00 AM PDT / 12:00 PM BST / 4:30 PM IST
Chair: Ioannis Tsioulakis, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Presenters:
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- “A BRICOLAGE OF EXPRESSIONS: An Art in Hiding and a Sustainable Aesthetic. An Ethnographic Study of the Visual and Auditory Ethno-Aesthetics of a Zeme Naga Village” | Suramya P. Dasgupta, University of Delhi, India
Abstract: What is the best lens to look into a remote culture’s Art? Art that could lack symmetry but entail formative histories of a self-sustaining culture shaped by sustainable practices. The study tries to look at Aesthetics through the purview of sustainability, by learning the Visual and Auditory Ethno-Aesthetics of the village of Ze-Mnui. It employs a bi-sensorial approach to delve deeper into the world of gradients, resonances and silences, to rediscover the landscape as a form of sustainable art and the soundscape as an eco-sensitive song. All this to conclude that the people of Ze-Mnui, in their culture and existence, have projected a love for the Aesthetic as well as the environment.
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- “How Music Makes the People Come Together: Examples from Bergama, Turkey” | Elif Akin, Izmir University of Economics, Turkey
Abstract: Music is a form of expression for ideas, beliefs, sentiments of any kind. The way the songs are composed, or lyrics written on the melody are deeply rooted in experiences which are part of the collective memory of different cultures, and the music that came out as its byproduct might reflect the victories as well as grievances of any community. This paper seeks to focus on the latter with the proposition that music as a way to create movement narratives, by giving the legendary Turkish Anatolian rock band Moğollar’s song written for Bergama resistance.
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- “The Unpredictable ‘Oikos’: Agency, Memory and Migration in Contemporary Indian Poetry” | Debashree Sinha, Amity University, India
Abstract: Mainstream conservation environmentalism has excessively influenced control over literary and cultural forms. Environmental discourse has often shaped our understanding of the positions power, control, agency and memory. As Eco critical thinkers like Lawrence Buell would argue, terms such as pastoral, urban, wilderness, connote retreat or escape, environmental discourse likewise creates a spectrum of representation situating particular groups and communities at the centre and at the margins respectively. Our recent experience of the pandemic, destabilized our understanding of the predictable ‘oikos’.
Paper Session 9B: Vulnerability and Sustainable Livelihoods
Friday, May 21: 4:00 AM PDT / 12:00 PM BST / 4:30 PM IST
Chair: Prashant Khattri, University of Allahabad, India
Presenters:
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- “Drought-induced Migration as a Sustainable Livelihood Strategy: A Case of District Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh” | Badsha Sarkar, TERI School of Advanced Studies, India
Abstract: The present paper investigates migration as one of a household livelihood strategies in the drought affected rural areas in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh. With the application of sustainable livelihood framework the paper looks into the household decision making processes on migration and how the migration in turn may affect the household adaptation to drought. In a selected village in the district of Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, in-depth interviews were conducted with villagers across different educational and professional backgrounds with well representation of age-sex classes, across socio-economic divides and the results are analysed qualitatively.
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- “Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) – an un/predictable education in Northern Ireland?” | Karen Kerr, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Abstract: This paper presents findings from an evaluation of Ulster Wildlife’s Grassroots Challenge Project, together with young people’s views, opinions and concerns about environmental issues and actions, which will be used to inform future work. The majority of young people said they want to make a difference for nature but cited a lack of opportunities and/or the promotion of existing ones as a major issue, citing the need for better provision through school. They call on policy makers and stakeholders to take notice, and make more opportunities available. Now is the time for action and we are lucky to have a strong army of young people who are willing and able to fight for our planet!
Paper Session 10A: Impacts of Climate Change
Friday, May 21: 5:30 AM PDT / 1:30 PM BST / 6:00 PM IST
Chair: John Barry, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Presenters:
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- “Impact of Unpredictable Climate Conditions on the Livelihood: A Case Study” | Jagriti Mehta and A.K. Sinha, Panjab University Chandigarh, India
Abstract: The present study is a qualitative study based on the data collected in the form of case study from the respondent of village Kufar Bag of Kotkhai tehsil of Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, India. The findings from the study shows how due to unpredictable climate conditions, such as hailstones and decline in precipitation, the major source of their livelihood, which is apple-based cash crop economy, is suffering from setbacks such as destruction of crop at early stage, decline in production, lower shelf life, and lower market price.
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- “Climate Change and Scarcity of Water: A Case Study of Leh (Ladakh, India)” | Tashi Lundup and Sonam Joldan, University of Ladakh, India
Abstract: This study focuses on the erratic climate change and its impact on water shortage in Ladakh region in general and in the city of Leh in particular. Ladakh is a newly formed Union Territory, formally part of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Located in the Trans-Himalaya, the main sources of water for people in the region are snow and glaciers melted water for both irrigation and drinking for centuries. As such, many of the socio-cultural and religious practices in the region have evolved in tune with its ecology and environment. This led to organize their livelihood strategy ingeniously to uphold the limited resources for subsistence.
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- “Unprecedented Disastrous Wetness” | Louisa Cortesi, Erasmus University, The Netherlands
This session was not recorded.
Paper Session 10B: Development and Disasters
Friday, May 21: 5:30 AM PDT / 1:30 PM BST / 6:00 PM IST
Chair: Maruška Svašek, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Presenters:
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- “(Un)predictability of Environmental Disasters and the ‘Predictability’ of Populist Regimes: Comparing USA and India and Their Right-Wing Regimes’ Responses to Natural Disasters” | Subhadra Mitra Channa, University of Delhi, India
Abstract: This paper attempts to compare the responses of Right wing Government in India and the Trump regime’s response to COVID from the platform of populism, interrogating the technologies of control and the mechanisms by which regimes are controlling minds and working against the very people who support them. What is the relationship of capitalists to environmental disasters for which they are largely responsible and in collusion with the state transfer their costs to the marginalized while reaping the profits.
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- “The consequences are obvious’: Resigning to and Resisting Forest Logging in Estonia” | Aet Annist, Tallinn University, Estonia
Abstract: I will analyse the online actions and discussions of forest protest groups opposing the changed logging practices in Estonia in the context of, on the one hand, e-platforms visualising forest loss and discussions of the consequences to biodiversity, both reaffirming the certainty that the present path is unsustainable, and on the other hand uncertainty-generating campaigns from the forestry lobby.
This will be discussed through the prism of the following analytical framework: theories of dispossession, of multiple temporalities/modern futurities, and of state’s role in shaping the future and its perceptions.
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- “Crossroad of Development: Climate Change,Water-Induced Disasters, and the Urgency of Foresighted Policies” | Farhat Naz and George Kodimattam Joseph, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, India
Abstract: This paper analyses the complexity of crises introduced by climate change, impacts of water-induced disasters, and the causal role of development policies being pushed by states. The problem of water-induced disasters is substantiated by the present environmental crises in the Himalayan region, specifically focusing on the recent glacier break and the havoc followed. The paper explicates the folly which is endemic to prevailing policies of development that ruin natural resources, harm local communities, and generate an entirely new set of social and ecological problems.
Paper Session 11A: Socio-Ecological Environments
Friday, May 21: 7:00 AM PDT / 3:00 PM BST / 7:30 PM IST
Chair: Amanda Slevin, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Presenters:
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- “Impact of Flood on Physical Growth among the Children and Adolescent of District Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, India” | Anurag Chaurasia, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, India
Abstract: Background: Child health and flood are highly prevalent public health issues in many developing countries, yet we have little understanding of precautionary strategies for effective deal with conditions.
Objectives: This study aims to improve the understanding of the relationship between exposure to floods and growth and nutrition among children aged 4-18 years in Rudraprayag.
Result: Children, especially those in lower income, grow more slowly in the aftermath of a flood they experienced and there is a significant impact of flood on birth weight and body height among the children and adolescents. Study was carried out in Rudraprayag district.
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- “Navigating volatility in the Mackenzie Delta, Canada” | Franz Krause, University of Cologne, Germany
Abstract: Through economic fluctuations, political restructuring and a changing climate, uncertainty, instability and volatility have become the order of the day for the Inuvialuit and Gwich’in inhabitants of the Mackenzie Delta. In this context, useful skills are particularly those that afford flexibility, spontaneity and improvisation. Skills like the ability to remain open for seizing unforeseen opportunities, the interest in cultivating many different activities instead of developing a single one to perfection, and the refusal to commit to long-term, regular obligations remain meaningful for navigating current, often volatile, transformations.
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- “Finding Peace in The Middle of Chaos” | Louise Taylor, Queen’s University Belfast,UK
Abstract: This session will explore self care practices and nature based experiences which can help with well-being and mental health when dealing with the climate and ecological emergencies and other crises. The session will be hosted by Louise Taylor, a PhD student at Queens University Belfast.
Paper Session 11B: ‘Cultivating’ Environments
Friday, May 21: 7:00 AM PDT / 3:00 PM BST / 7:30 PM IST
Chair: Toshi Pandey, University of Allahabad, India
Presenters:
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- “Shifting Cultivation and Soil Erosion in North Eastern India: A Study of Environmental Narratives and its Politics” | Oinam Hemlata Devi, Ambedkar University Delhi, India
Abstract: Shifting cultivation is the most common form of agriculture widely practiced by northeastern India for subsistence living. In due course of time, there has been a consistent change in the practice of shifting cultivation drawing attention to scientists, social activists, and policymakers. This paper highlights the narratives of environmental degradation due to shifting cultivation and examines the politics involved using political ecology perspectives. It focuses on the relationship between man and environment, how and for whom the environment is constructed? This paper provides an understanding of socio-political and ecological knowledge dynamics in the narratives of shifting cultivation.
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- “Transition in Socio-ecology: Pastoralists and Ecosystem Services among Gaddi of Himachal Pradesh, India” | Abhik Ghosh Simmy, Panjab University Chandigarh, India
Abstract: What is the status of transhumants in the contemporary world? Forest departments are giving approval to different projects in the forest land but they are ignoring the local ecological services provided by the forests to local people. Very few rights were given to local people to avail forests resources independently according to their knowledge and need. Herders are considered as the destructor of forests, but we should not avoid the political marginalization that leads to eviction of them from their land or restrictions to their movement. So a fundamental question is that “why ecosystem people do not participate with the forest department to regulate forest resources anymore?”