“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
This quote reminds us how every second of human life is associated with every object around us.
Since childhood, cartoons and many books that we have read has directly or indirectly termed the environment as "mother." Hence, from an early age, literature has allowed us to understand the condition environment. The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) is an international platform and a committed interdisciplinary community hub. The organisation's objective is simple: Conducting environmental research on education, literature, art and service, environmental justice, and ecological sustainability.
A group of academics from different universities of the country approached ASLE and encouraged them to open a local wing in Bangladesh. By setting up a planning committee, an interdisciplinary conference with ASLE took place in Dhaka two months ago. Although the conference is a great head start towards a new horizon, the process of becoming a member of ALSE's international organisation may take a little more time. Thus, until then, the Bangladeshi team is calling themselves the ASLE planning committee of Bangladesh. Munasir Kamal, assistant professor in Department of English at Dhaka University, who is also a member, said: “We are still in touch with the main ASLE organisation in the US. Discussion regarding opening the local wing is currently in process.”
“Once the registration process is complete, we intend to request ASLE to send us their research papers. We want to share the conference volume with different universities so that people can be made more aware of what we are trying to achieve through this initiative,” added Munasir.
“A tree emerges and spreads it's branches from the pages of an open book” – the logo of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) perfectly depicts what the organisation aims for. The concept behind the organisation's goal is made clearer with Munasir's explanation: “ASLE's description on the word 'environment' provides us with a glimpse of their prime motive. Usually environment is thought to be a synonym of nature. For us, we think beyond nature, which is essentially a broader view of the environment. So we define environment as the place where we live, where we work, and our surroundings, in general.”
“So, when we are talking about the environment, it's not limited to the sea, forests or hills. Though all of these are extremely important, we are also talking about the urban environment, industrialised environment and different places people are working. We want the environment to be safe and healthy for everyone,” she continued.
She also mentioned an upcoming book, Number and Nerves, written by Dr Scott Slovic, keynote speaker of the conference and founding president of ASLE. The book talks about how acquiring a lot of statistical data about an issue can make people numb. It leaves people wondering how to respond, resulting in them doing nothing.
“The environment, too, is subject to studies resulting in large statistical data. Large numbers about environmental destruction are available. These statistics are important but us, the general people, have a tendency to halt at that. This is too big for us, we don’t know how and what to do with it. What Dr Solvic does in his book is help raise awareness and encourage people to take action when faced with such crisis. What can make people take initiatives, rather than leaving them feeling numb? One of the idea he talks about is literature – a means of raising awareness by making us feel,” she added.
She believes literature is already aiding in raising awareness. We need to make environment research available and hold plenty of similar sessions. She evaluates this angle of thought, which allows the students to understand the psychological aspect of the characters and how environment is playing an important role behind it.
While recalling a course on environmental justice she took during her masters, she said: “We read this novel on coal mining which talked about a mountain top being blown off using dynamites. It also talked about what impact that had on the people living in that region, on trees and on the plants there. I believe if I had just read data on the issue, I don’t think I would've been as moved as I was when I read this novel. So we believe that literature has a huge role to play when it comes to the environment.”
“Literature, again, is broadly defined here. It is not limited to novels or poetry, rather it also includes the use of language on posters, political conflate or brochures.”
“The ways and manners in which we use language that help us feel will hopefully inspire us to take action and, that is the beauty of literature.” she added.
After completing registration for their local team, they have planned to start a reading circle. Where they will be reading about these issues and discussing them on a by monthly basis. And more importantly, it will be open for all since they believe in an inter disciplinary approach. “I think people from different disciplines have something to contribute to this discussion. People from economics, social science, communication, political science, zoology, anthropology, literature and so on,” Munasir concluded.
