Reimagining The Sundarbans: Ecology, Culture and Postcolonial Space in The Hungry Tide

Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide offers a powerful literary reimagining of the Sundarbans as a complex ecological, cultural, and postcolonial space where human survival, environmental precarity, and historical memory intersect. Situated in one of the most fragile and politically marginalized regions of South Asia, the novel foregrounds the entangled lives of humans, animals, tides, and landscapes, challenging anthropocentric and nationalist narratives of progress and development. This research article examines how Ghosh reconstructs the Sundarbans as a contested postcolonial space shaped by colonial legacies, ecological vulnerability, and subaltern resistance. Drawing upon postcolonial ecocriticism, spatial theory, and environmental humanities, the study explores the representation of the Sundarbans as a liminal zone where nature and culture constantly negotiate power, survival, and belonging. The article argues that The Hungry Tide not only critiques developmentalist and state-centric discourses but also reclaims marginalized ecological knowledge and cultural memory, thereby positioning literature as a vital medium for environmental and postcolonial consciousness.