Volume 03: Issue 01, 2021
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Item Open Access The bird's plight, takes a flight(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Muppirala, Harishankar; Asrani, ManishaItem Open Access Culture of fear and conservation of nature: Critiquing the construction of Sarppakavu in Kerala(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Mohan, Monisha; Alex, Gigy J.This paper critiques the culture of fear accredited to sarppakavu in Kerala, through an investigation of William Logan's Malabar Manual. Kavu, the regional variant of sacred groves in Kerala, a state in Southern India, in the traditional sense is a consortium of trees devoted to various deities and sarppakavu is a variant that is dedicated exclusively to the worship of serpents. An ecozone guarded in the interest of a presiding deity, human intrusion into kavu is prohibited through a strategic amalgamation of myths and taboos. As a symbiotic space permeated by nature (forest) and culture (deity), it has undergone tremendous transformations. The paper argues that sarppakavu in Kerala is an epitome of human-nature-culture co-existence practised among non-indigenous communities, managed through the culture of fear-appeasement. It foregrounds that Logan analysed this culture of fear-appeasement from a religious perspective that delimited the sacred space of kavu and overlooked the role of ecofear in enhancing nature-human cohabitation through the construction and conservation of sarppakavu.Item Open Access Precaution(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) John, Nithya MariamItem Open Access International Journal of Fear Studies, Volume 3 (1), 2021: Interdisciplinary & Transdisciplinary Approaches(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Fisher, R. Michael; Alex, Rayson K.; Sachindev, P. S.Item Open Access Hydrophobia--The water that I dread!(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Deborah, S. SusanItem Open Access Navigating women scientist &unnatural selection through :The Nest (1987) and Splice (2006)(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Deater, TiffanyThe Nest (1987) and Splice (2006) use fear as a method of generating anxiety, helpless, and even hostility towards its subject_the female scientists. This character stereotype is the source of treacherous and destructive acts that jeopardize the future of the environment and the human race. These female villains have desires deemed unnatural by traditional conservative society, are destructive to the environment, and operate outside the norm of both social and biological ecology. This paper argues that the stereotype of female scientist as portrayed in The Nest and Splice is destructive to the cultural progress of women. In addition both films assert that women scientists are at fault for changes in the natural world and thus have a negative effect on humanities ability to survive. Ultimately humanity will fail to exterminate the unnatural species we have created and we must adjust and accommodate for a new existence.Item Open Access Tornado Lake (Short Documentary)(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Deater, TiffanyItem Open Access Narrativizing ecoterrorism in the Indian film Irada(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Biswas, PraggnaparamitaConcentrating upon the concept of Ecophobia propagated by Simon C. Estok and David Sobel, this paper intends to explore the Indian movie Irada (2017, dir. Aparnaa Singh) which narrativizes the substantial environmental impacts of chemical toxicity including water pollution and subsequent disruption of aquatic ecosystem caused by the Green Revolution in Punjab. Usually, Ecophobia is a fear of ecological problems in the natural world originating either by climate change or by human-made environmental hazards which tolled about trillion lives in the last two decades. Situating the dangerous nexus of waste, water, and corporatization, the movie captures the increasing reality of the notion of terror in the lives of the inhabitants in a fully industrialized locale. Also, the movie investigates the responsibility of media to instill indignation that evokes action for betterment of nature.Item Open Access Ecofear in Mohan Koirala's Ambassadors of the Wetland(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Timalsina, RamjiPeople who are conscious of the impact of environmental degradation become fearful of its consequences. They deal with this issue in their creations. Such creative works including literature function to make the readers both aware of the possibility and fearful of the consequences. As a result, these ecoconscious people will be ready to work for the preservation of the environment. This bifurcated idea of ecofearism (generation of the fear of the impact of environmental degradation through consciousness, and the resultant readiness to preserve the ecology) can be seen in the epic Simasaarakaa Raajdut [Ambassadors of the Wetland] composed by a modernist Nepali poet Mohan Koirala. Written on the poet's deathbed and published posthumously, the epic deals with the fear of the protagonist about the destruction of the flora and fauna of the Nepalese plains. It depicts the fate and fear of the birds and bird conservers. The epic symbolically connects the fear of the poet and the protagonist with the increasing fear of ecoconscious human beings about the possible annihilation of human civilization if the depletion of ecological balance continues in the same extent as it is going on now. In this context, this article interprets the epic to throw light on the connection among growing human consciousness, fear, growing ecological imbalance and the poet's appeal for the preservation of nature. For this qualitative research, the ideas of ecofearism developed by Simon C. Estok, and R. Micheal Fisher and other growing ecofearists have been used as a theoretical perspective. The step-wise formula of ecofearist studies 'Life-Consciousness-Knowledge-Eco-Crisis-Eco-Fearism' has been referred to in the development of the paper.Item Open Access The locked-down burg(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Pathak, ShouryaItem Open Access Trepidation of change: Analysing the somatic de-recognition of Mother Nature in Gopinath Mohanty's Paraja(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Swayamsidha, SadhanaGopinath Mohanty's novel Paraja depicts the deracination of the Paraja tribal community of Odisha and the simultaneous disintegration of their indigenous percipience of ecological maintenance. The conceptualization of ecofear is not an exclusive fear of de-recognition with the natural environment for the Paraja tribe; on the contrary, it is a distinct sense of synesthetic fear that is comprehensive and interlinked with the fear of being catapulted into a transformed nature that propagates a feeling of alienation and estrangement. This paper will articulate how the synesthetic fear conceives the loss of the quintessence of indigenous life at the heart of nature. With the advent of the new modes of perceiving land in terms of its utilitarian use, there has been a considerable reduction in the subtle experiences of sensing the land and identifying with it on a symbolic level. This evolving relationship with land with humans is of prime concern in the context of its consequences in the 21st century. This paper will attempt to explore how somatic de-recognition with place forms the locus of indigenous ecofear. Somatic de-recognition refers to the inability to experience a sense of belongingness with place of habitation that holds within it the history of ancestors. This paper will also explicate the indigenous perspective on the trajectory of environmental adjustments, which they fear would lead to the gradual degeneration of human beings.Item Open Access Senior Editorial: Investigations from the Deep(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Fisher, R. MichaelItem Open Access From dust to dust(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Sarveswaran, VidyaItem Open Access Of devouring waters and unforgiving lands: An analysis of premonition ecology in two wetland narratives from West Bengal(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Sarkar, Sanchar; Rangarajan, SwarnalathaBiren Sasmal's Jolkor (The Water Tax) (2019) and Dhrubajyoti Ghosh's The Trash Diggers (2017) are anthropocene narratives that vividly detail the degradation of aqua-littoral wetland ecosystems of the Sundarbans and East Calcutta wetlands in West Bengal, India. Sasmal's fiction written in Bengali and Ghosh's anglophone nonfiction forcefully engage with the inequalities of speciesism and the implications of urban indifference regarding the 'ecosystem people' inhabiting these ecologically sensitive threshold regions. This paper will articulate the pervading sense of 'ecopremonition', a term we have coined to describe the anticipatory fear of ecological collapse caused by rapid and unpredictable changes in the geomorphology of places like Sundarbans and East Calcutta. This paper expands the framework of fearism proposed by Subba in his work, Philosophy of Fearism where he defines fear as the 'director of life and civilization' (Subba 11) by proposing the concept of ecopremonition that calls for a heightened engagement with environmental degradation in new ways that use fear as a proactive tool to promote greater earth stewardship and sustainability.Item Open Access An analysis of reverential ecofear in Theyyam: A ritualistic performance of North-Malabar(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Rithwik Sankar A.Theyyam is a ritualistic performance in the North-Malabar region of Kerala, India. It carries ritualistic elements such as worship and penance along with the convergence of various forms like dance, painting, and music. The legendary and mythical characters in Theyyam performances are acted out by artistically skilled men of the exploited sections of the society including Malayas, Pulayas, Vannans, Velans, and Thiyyas. Though the performance of Theyyam by the subaltern communities signals the fearless resistance against the prevailing hierarchies and hegemonies in the society, it also has been used by the system as an ideological means to contain the oppositions or resistance from its subjects. The ritualistic expression of fear and respect forms the basis of each Theyyam performances. Often, people's fear of nature is ritualistically manifested through Theyyam performance. People's fear is concerned mainly with the matters of diseases, reproduction and yield in agriculture. These concerns are well articulated in different folk narratives including Kothamooriyattam, Kaliyanattam and the Theyyam performances including Muchilottu Bagavathi and Pulimaranja Thondachan Theyyam. The knowledge about nature acquired through a keen observation of natural cycles and other changes in nature by the ancient people is manifested in these ritual performances. This paper critically examines the influence of fear, using the concepts of ecofear and ecophobia, in the formulation of goddesses in Theyyam worship and the connection between the paraphernalia of Theyyam with nature. It examines the case of Theyyottukavu, a sacred grove in the district of Kannur in the light of the concept of ecofear. The paper also, analyses Theyyam and certain Theyyam myths by incorporating the theories of fear studies formulated by the fearologist R. M. Fisher.Item Open Access Editorial: Naturecultures, ecofears, cultural texts(In Search of Fearlessness Research Intitute & The Fearology Institute, 2021-04-08) Alex, Rayson K.; P. S., SachindevItem Open Access Rivers as the site of flood and drought through the lens of Ritwik Ghatak's Titas Ekti Nadir Naam(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Ray, SinjiniIndia and Bangladesh since the very advent of their formation have been known to be heavily dependent on their rivers for resources of livelihood. The rivers, of both East and West Bengal are often addressed as 'mother', providing for everything necessary to live on. At times however, these very rivers acquire frightful shape wreaking havoc on and causing absolute jeopardy to the lives of the people depending on them. This frightful state of the rivers may occur both in forms of flood as well as drying up of river beds, causing drought. Bengal has been through some of the most severe droughts in history and in this paper, I shall try to look back at the catastrophes that they were. In this context, I would also like to discuss Ritwik Ghatak's film Titas Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Called Titas) for its portrayal of people's dependence on the river with their fates tied up with that of the river. Ghatak, in his movie, uses heavy symbolism to denote the role the river played in the characters' lives and how it influenced the sustenance of civilization around it.Item Open Access Ecoanxiety: A philosophical investigation from the early Buddhist perspective(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Prakash, GyanEcoanxiety has been described as a fear caused by the climate crisis or environmental degradation. In religious and ethical studies, the emotion of fear is significant because it plays a role as a motivating factor or achieving necessary mental state to get to the ultimate goal in religious life. Fear is often caused by the consequences of an event. However, the dysteleological nature of early Buddhist thoughts does not contribute significantly to environmental problems but construe the fear. This paper is an attempt to explore the Buddhist ethical perspective of ecoanxiety, with special reference to the early Buddhist thinker Buddhaghosa. In this paper, I argue that Buddhist ethical teachings have an immediate beneficial effect on ecoanxiety.Item Open Access Ecofear as visible and invisible: Conceptual underpinnings of The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer(In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2021-04-08) Baindur, MeeraHuman response to ecophobia and ecofear have been mitigated through belief in science and technology that are supposed to establish knowledge and control over nature. This essay will look at the relationship between nature and fear through an ecocritical reading of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy (2014) titled Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance. The first novel Annihilation is written from a biologist's view of an ecozone known as Area X in which there is a continuous situation of unknowability and invisibility of the environment that is subjected to study and control in the plot. The second novel carries ecophobia into the very organisation 'Southern Reach' that is investigating Area X. Here the encounter between the protagonists and Area X is mediated by data and the politics of human beings working together, yet keeping secrets from each other. In the third novel, the climax reveals the intelligence that is Area X, yet at the same time masking its intention and the future of human beings and their interests. While analysing the different types of ecofear, I posit that it is possible for a certain kind of literature to evoke a horror of ourselves and transform ecophobia within our attitudes. This essay concludes with the significance of self-abnegation and a collapse of human arrogance at both the epistemic level and identity-separateness for being with nature. I posit that this kind of novel, a sort of ecologically inspired fiction, renders the human interest invisible, against bio-interest resulting in a foundational shift in our attitude to nature and ourselves.