Looking At Roma Tearne's Brixton Beach And Sharon Bala's The Boat People From Ecocritical Perspective

This study examines the relationship between migration, trauma and ecocriticism in Sharon Bala’s “The Boat People” and Roma Tearne’s “Brixton Beach”. By combining postcolonial and trauma studies with ecocritical theory, it takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate how environmental displacement significantly influences the psychological and cultural experiences of refugees. Although the ecological impact of their displacement is frequently disregarded, both novels feature characters who are compelled to flee their native countries, Sri Lanka in both cases, due to civil unrest, violence and persecution. This study makes the case that ecological severance exacerbates the trauma of migration and alienation by examining the loss of natural landscapes, climate and environmental familiarity. According to the paper, eco-trauma is a significant but little-studied aspect of refugee narratives drawing on theories by Graham Huggan, Rob Nixon and Ursula Heise. The protagonists’ fractured identities and cultural disorientation in unfamiliar places parallel their disengagement from their natural surroundings. The study concludes by showing how the environment plays a crucial role in comprehending the deeper psychological effects of forced migration rather than just serving as a setting. It demands that refugee literature be reexamined via an ecocritical perspective that recognizes the connection between identity memory and land.