Journal of English Literature and Cultural Studies

Journal of English Literature and Cultural Studies

Toxic Discourse: A Study of Hegemonic Oppression and Environmental Disequilibrium in South Asian Novels

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Neelum Almas 1
Faryal Bukhari 2
1 Department of Humanities, COMSATS University Islamabad Pakistan
2 Foundation University Islamabad Pakistan
10.26655/JELCS.2024.04.02
Abstract
With ecological changes taking place at a very fast pace and affecting all forms of life on earth, Pakistani writers have also begun to address how human activities, especially humans’ exercise of power for grabbing resources and territories on earth, has done irreparable damage to our environment. This paper reflects on the environmental crisis that the selected novels hint at. The theoretical stance of this research is informed by four major aspects postulated by Lawrence Buell in his theory of Toxic Discourse, a major development in ecocriticism. Making use of textual analysis as a research method, the study attempts to examine Kamila Shamsie's Kartography and Uzma Aslam Khan's Trespassing. The analysis of the selected novels brings to light different forms of hegemonic oppression that are responsible for causing environmental imbalance. Social discrimination gives rise to us versus them binary which is the major cause for conflicts giving rise to endangered ecologies and ailing humanity.
Keywords
hegemonic oppression
toxic discourse
ecocriticism
Lawrence Buell
Journal of English Literature and Cultural Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 30 April 2025