Between Forest and Flood: Imperial Legacies and Ecological Displacement in Hungry Tide

This study examines Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide through a postcolonial ecocritical lens, focusing on how ecological destruction, displacement, and state-led conservation intersect in the Sundarbans. It argues that the novel exposes the imperial and developmental logics that reshape fragile environments while marginalizing poor local communities, especially refugees and fishermen whose survival depends on the same landscape targeted for preservation. By drawing on concepts such as ecological imperialism, primitive accumulation, and the “environmentalism of the poor,” the study shows how Ghosh critiques both colonial legacies and modern conservation policies that exclude human inhabitants in the name of environmental protection. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that The Hungry Tide presents ecological crisis not only as environmental damage, but also as a humanitarian and political tragedy rooted in dispossession, unequal power, and the fragile relationship between humans and nature.