NEWS

About:

Sanchar Sarkar has completed his PhD in English (Environmental Humanities: Science Fiction, Climate Change and Postmodern Environments) from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) in 2024. His doctoral thesis, “The Eco-speculative Turn: Planet Earth and Climate Change in Contemporary American Science Fiction,” focuses on the intersection of literature and the environment with a particular emphasis on the representation of planet earth and climate change through the lens of contemporary American science fiction. He is interested in studying and analyzing the emerging trends of climate communication through the modes of Virtual Technology and Design in the twenty-first century. He engages with the aspects of climate change and postmodern environments through the interdisciplinary frameworks that incorporate diverse domains like the theory of ecocriticism, geography and Anthropocene studies.

He completed his post graduation (MA in English and Comparative Literature) from Pondicherry University (School of Humanities) in 2018 and he completed his Bachelors (BA in English) from Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous) Narendrapur, University of Calcutta in 2016.

In terms of his teaching framework, he engages with the dialogic, interactive and activity-based learning techniques in the classroom. He follows the participatory teaching-learning format that enables the students to cultivate better interpersonal engagement in a  classroom environment.

Areas of Interest:

Science Fiction, Eco-speculation, Ecocriticism, Climate Change and Postmodern Environments, Indic-futurism, Geographies in the Anthropocene, Fiction for the Future.

Publications:

• Sarkar, Sanchar, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Do you think it is a Pandemic?” Apocalypse, Anxiety and the Environmental Grotesque in Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl” Interlitteraria1 (2022): 69-83. https://doi.org/10.12697/IL.2022.27.1.7 (WEB OF SCIENCE)
• Sarkar, Sanchar, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Marine Entanglements: Tropical Materialism and Hydrographic Imaginary in Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon.” eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the Tropics2 (2022): 180-197. https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.21.2.2022.3900 (SCOPUS)
• Sarkar, Sanchar. “The Carbon Coin: An Eco-speculative Approach to Decarbonization in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. (Accepted and to be Published in early 2025) as a part of a Special Issue on ‘Epochs, Ages, and Cycles: Time and the Environment’ in Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism. (SCOPUS)
• Sarkar, Sanchar, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Of Devouring Waters and Unforgiving Lands: An Analysis of Premonition Ecology in two Wetland Narratives from West Bengal.” International Journal of Fear Studies1 (2021): 61-73. https://prism.ucalgary.ca/items/2559f435-4d34-4138-889f-a1657d0633bf (PRISM Database – University of Calgary)
• Sarkar, Sanchar. “Eco-Speculation: Envisioning a Sustainable Future in the ‘Eco-Architectures’ of Stefano Boeri and Vincente Callebaut.” IIS University Journal of Arts 2 (2021): 46-53. http://iisjoa.org/sites/default/files/iisjoa/Dec%202021/5.pdf

Book Chapter:

• Sarkar, Sanchar. “Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek: The Transformation of Scientific Hypothesis into an Interstellar Civilization.” In Avenues and Polarities in Science Fiction: From Sri Aurobindo to Artificial Intelligence, Edited by S. Visaka Devi, Emerald Publishers, 2021, pp. 83 – 95. (Print)

International Conferences:

• Presented a paper titled “Impact of Climate Change in Threshold Environments of India: A Pedagogical Framework for Experiential Learning” at the 5th World Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences: Current Trends and Developments organized by Eurasia Conferences in Vienna, Austria in May 2024.
• Presented a paper (Virtual Mode) titled “Tropical Archipelagic Commons and the Perils of the Indian Mainland Thinking in Pankaj Sekhsaria’s Islands in Flux: The Andaman & Nicobar Story” at the International Conference on ‘Reclaiming the Commons’, jointly organized by the American Association of Studies in Literature and the Environment (ASLE) and the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) at the University of Oregon, Portland, USA on July 2023.
• Presented a paper (Virtual Mode) titled “Covid-19 as a Hyperobject: Analyzing the Anthropo-ecological Temporalities during the Coron(a)ial Interregnum in India” at the Air and Environmental Health International Conference on The Coronavirus Pandemic: An Environmental Humanities Perspective organized by the University of Vienna on February 2023.
• Presented a paper titled “The Carbon Coin: An Eco-speculative Approach to Decarbonisation in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future” at the ASLE UKI International Conference on Time and the Environment at Northumbria University, Newcastle, United Kingdom on September 2022.
• Presented a paper titled “The Water Remembers: Eco-speculation and Hydrographic Imaginaries in Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon” at the XIV International Conference on Environmental Humanities: Living in Critical Zones, organized by the Forum on Contemporary Theory, India and Shreveport University Louisiana at the International Convention Center, Goa on January 2022.
• Attended the International E-Conference on Eco Ethics in English Literature organized by the APC Mahalaxmi College for Women, Thootukudi and presented a paper titled Of Cornucopian Humans and Unforgiving Waters: An Eco-ethical Analysis of Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife on January 2020.

National Conference:

• Presented a paper titled “Eco-speculation: Envisioning a Sustainable Future in the Eco-architectures of Stefano Boeri and Vincente Callebaut” at the National Conference on Exploring ecological and Cultural Consciousness: A Vision of Equitability, Organized by Christ University Department of English on January 2020.

Seminar Presentations:

• Presented a paper titled “Earthbound Imaginaries in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Contemporary American Science Fiction” at the International Seminar on Literature as Discourse, organized by the Dept. of English at Pondicherry University on October 2023.
• Attended the National Seminar on Green Literature at Periyar University on January 31, 2020 and presented a paper titled “Environmental Art and Installations: Re-imagining Nature in Nils Udo’s ‘Art in Nature’ and Manav Gupta’s ‘Art for Earth’.”