Tidal Histories: Environmental Displacement and Subaltern Ecologies in Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide

Abstract

This article studies Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide as a critical intervention in postcolonial environmental historiography, with a focus on the environmentally and politically contested Sundarbans. The territory, shaped by colonial cartographic violence, post-independence conservation regimes, and ongoing climate disasters, acts as a palimpsest of erasure and resistance. Ghosh reanimates this territory with a multidimensional narrative that uncovers hidden histories and challenges prevailing paradigms of ecological management. Using frameworks from postcolonial historiography (Said, Spivak), subaltern studies (Guha, Spivak), postcolonial ecocriticism (Nixon, DeLoughrey), environmental justice (Martínez-Alier, Shiva), and new materialism (Bennett, Latour), this article examines how The Hungry Tide prioritizes alternative epistemologies and subaltern environmental agency. The story highlights the Morichjhãpi massacre, an act of state-sanctioned ecological displacement that constitutes a significant historical rupture. Ghosh's depiction of riverine life and the role of nonhuman actors, particularly the Irrawaddy dolphin and tidal currents, challenges anthropocentric and technocratic perspectives on the environment. The study also critiques the neocolonial operations of conservation NGOs, scientific expeditions, and ecotourism as extensions of global development ideals. Through the character of Fokir, a marginalized fisherman with indigenous ecological knowledge, Ghosh imagines a counter-discourse based on proximity to the environment rather than control over it. Finally, this study advocates a transdisciplinary strategy that combines literary and scientific research to better address questions of ecological justice, historical memory, and the future of sensitive ecosystems like the Sundarbans.