INDUSTRIALISATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGENERATION: A CRITIQUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS IN FRED STENSON’S WHO BY FIRE

Abstract

This research study aims to examine the consequences of industrialization on the human and non-human life of the surrounding places. Likewise, it explores degrees of loss of environment caused by national and transnational industrial units. On one side, such syndicates accumulate more revenues from resource-rich regions while on the other inflict environmental and cultural degradation. Moreover, this study is intended to evaluate the resistance of the local community, specifically the women, against such industries. Such industrial corporations operate on the patterns of transnational corporations of the Global North and consider local communities as their ‘other’. For such reasons, this study is premised, theoretically, on investigating existing relationship between industrial units and the local communities. In this context, theoretical underpinnings of postcolonial Eco-criticism seem plausible for this investigative study. The study interprets Fred Stenson’s Who by Fire (2014) for a critical understanding of industrialization, its impacts on environment and strategies of environmental politics of impacted communities. The study finds that industries are established in resource-rich geographies to enhance their revenues. They exploit natural resources and inflict environmental degeneration upon these geographies. In addition, it explores women’s strategies of environmental politics to protect their resources and environment from further degradation.