Papers by Liton Chakraborty Mithun
Ideas, 2025
Bangladeshi young novelist Imran Khan's second Bangla-language novel Besati O Basati (Business an... more Bangladeshi young novelist Imran Khan's second Bangla-language novel Besati O Basati (Business and Habitat) has brought to the forefront the ongoing massive environmental degradation across Dhaka city and the adjacent urban sprawl. The ramifications and consequences of anthropogenic activities on the environment of the megacity underpin the narrative of the novel as unprecedented and uncontrolled growth and development, overpopulation, unchecked pollution, mismanagement of waste disposal, and destruction and illegal occupation of natural spaces impact the lives of the protagonists as well as the minor characters directly or indirectly on a daily basis. Through the lens of ecocriticism, this qualitative paper seeks to explore the interrelation between the characters and the environmental degradation happening around them. By textually analyzing the novel, it also endeavors to demonstrate how anthropocentrically-oriented capitalist desire to profit has turned Dhaka city and adjacent areas into ecocidal spaces where both human and nonhuman species suffer to varying degrees. This study is pertinent in the context of Bangladesh since it sheds light into environmental degradation and climate change issues focussing on Dhaka and beyond. In the process, it will enrich scholarship on Bangladeshi environmental fiction, and advocate justice for the environment, animals, and climate change/environmental victims.
Research and Criticism (Special Issue: Literature and Environment), Journal of the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi , 2025
Leading Bangladeshi English-language poet Kaiser Hamidul Haq, popularly known as Kaiser Haq, is f... more Leading Bangladeshi English-language poet Kaiser Hamidul Haq, popularly known as Kaiser Haq, is famed for his postcolonial and cosmopolitan poems grounded in the culture and nature of Bangladesh. Using an idiosyncratic diction manifesting intellectualism, scholarship and humor, his poetry arouses thoughts, evokes memories, and provokes action. For example, his seminal poem "Ode on the Lungi-which critiques colonialism, neocolonialism and neoliberalism, celebrates national and local culture, and posits a decolonial/postcolonial praxis-has also motivated what is termed as "Lungi activism." The title poem of his latest book of prose and verse titled The New Frontier & Other Odds and Ends in Verse and Prose presents the climate change issues unfolding in the ongoing Anthropocene era. Due to global warming, the world is confronted with rapid melting of the polar and mountain ice deposits. This causes a steady increase in the seawater level, inundating the low-lying regions of the Global South including Bangladesh, Maldives, Indonesia, Caribbean islands, Micronesian and Polynesian countries, and parts of India. The continuous climate injustice exacerbates the already precarious situation as the melting Arctic unfolds as a new frontier for the global powers. Applying insights from different critical theories, mainly ecocriticism and hydrocriticism, and employing textual analysis of "The New Frontier," the title poem of the volume The New Frontier & Other Odds and Ends in Verse and Prose, this qualitative paper will endeavor to critique climate injustice and globalized capitalism, and explore the eco-pedagogical potential of the long poem.
মানবিকী অনুষদ গবেষণা পত্রিকা Humanities Faculty Journal , 2024
Bangladeshi author Syed Manzoorul Islam's 2013 novel Shakuner Dana (Wings of the Vulture) offers ... more Bangladeshi author Syed Manzoorul Islam's 2013 novel Shakuner Dana (Wings of the Vulture) offers a critique of (mal) development practices that do not take into cognizance the environmental impact underpinning them. The guiding principle of such development initiatives is profit-making at any costs. Globalisation in its various avatars promotes an ideology of development in the-developing world,‖ which tends to adversely impact women and the environment alike. As a consequence, the local culture and traditional lifestyles of different communities get massively affected, at times, to the point of vanishment. The self-sufficient communities enmeshed in their local environment experience radical disruptions in their environmentally-rooted and ecologically-oriented lives and livelihoods. Similarly, ecofeminists explore the nexus between patriarchy and capitalism as mutually reinforcing ideologies of exploitation and domination. Postdevelopment theorists including Arturo Escobar critique the very notion of development as inherently exploitative, discriminatory and destructive. This paper will scrutinise the Bangladeshi novel Shakuner Dana from the dual lens of ecofeminism and post-development theories and stress the need for searching for alternatives to such paradigms. Since the novel is originally written in Bangla, textual references will henceforth appear in my translation.
SCHOLARS: Journal of Arts & Humanities , 2025
Beauty Boarding holds a unique place in Dhaka's cultural history. Dubbed as Dhaka's answer to Kol... more Beauty Boarding holds a unique place in Dhaka's cultural history. Dubbed as Dhaka's answer to Kolkata's Coffee House, the establishment offers both dining and lodging facilities. The once vibrant informal literary gatherings spearheaded by many prominent Bengali modernist poets and writers and attended by a group of budding poets and writers regularly for a decade have provided the aura and ethos to the selfhood of the place. However, a massacre of many people by the Pakistani army and their collaborators at Beauty Boarding in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh has made it part of the country's national history. Consequently, this space carries many memories, most of which have cultural and historical value. By drawing on insights from Halbwachs's theory of "collective memory," Lefebvre's "social production of space," de Certeau's "practice of everyday life," and the concept of "commodification of memory," this paper investigates how an interplay of memory, space, and culture is central to the identity of Beauty Boarding and how the authority concerned utilises its cultural capital to advance its business interests. It also highlights how a large part of Dhaka-based intelligentsia forms its identity based on its interaction and negotiation with the cultural history of the place.
Crossings: A Journal of English Studies, 2024
The female body has been a gendered space upon which patriarchy plays out its power dynamics. The... more The female body has been a gendered space upon which patriarchy plays out its power dynamics. The making, re-making, and unmaking of the female body has remained subject to the whims of men. In
most cases, women are denied agency and freedom over their bodies. Men have exerted their power on the female body in the form of subjugation, repression, oppression, and exploitation. Hence, rape
and all forms of sexual assault on women in the context of wars can be considered a patriarchal tool to assert the dominance of the attacking party and demoralize the community under attack. The victims of
sexual attacks undergo psychological trauma during and after the war. In this context, Tarfia Faizullah’s debut collection of poems Seam appears as a feminist investigation into the narrative of rape victims of the Bangladesh Liberation War. This book lends voice to the rape victims of the 1971 war whose bodies were politicized by the androcentric Pakistani army. Through a feminist lens, this qualitative paper will endeavor to explore how the female body served as a site of patriarchal domination in the Bangladesh Liberation War in the light of Seam.
Keywords: patriarchy, rape, violence, Birangona, feminism
Nisargapatra, Vol 1(1), 2023
Climate change along with its multiple coordinates features in all major discourses the world ove... more Climate change along with its multiple coordinates features in all major discourses the world over. Bangladesh is, geographically speaking, one of the most climate vulnerable countries. Officially, it is part of Climate Vulnerable Forum, an international grouping comprising some countries in the Global South endeavoring to negotiate with the richer countries to funnel funds to facilitate their climate responses. A wide variety of climate change-induced disasters and events occur at regular intervals across Bangladesh. The crises are exacerbated by trans-boundary river water regulation by upstream countries through barrages and dams. Many rivers have died due to sedimentation and excessive river administration while the water of many others is contaminated with chemicals. Rapid urbanization, industrialization and development are other crucial factors in the continuous environmental degradation of the country. Although it is one of the least carbon emitting nations, it is increasingly bearing the brunt of global warming because of its geographical location. Scientific predictions indicate that a big part of the country’s landmass is highly likely to submerge under the Bay of Bengal because of the rise in sea water level. Already the southern belt of the country has seen an ever-increasing salinization of the fresh river water. The Sundarbans, world’s largest mangrove forest, is sinking under the sea while its resources are being plundered. Other forests are shrinking as well due to human encroachment in terms of illegal clearing, logging, and the poaching of animals. In a word, Bangladesh has turned out to be a theater of a massive-scale ecocide. But, where is the literary response to such forms of injustice?
An Ecocritical Reading of Syed Manzoorul Islam’s Novel Shakuner Dana
Global journal of human social science, May 18, 2022
একবিংশ Ekabingsha
বাংলা কাব্যসাহিত্য বিশেষত আশির দশকীয় আধুনিক বাংলা কাব্যসাহিত্যে প্রাতিস্বিক চেতনা, অভিনব ডিকশান, ... more বাংলা কাব্যসাহিত্য বিশেষত আশির দশকীয় আধুনিক বাংলা কাব্যসাহিত্যে প্রাতিস্বিক চেতনা, অভিনব ডিকশান, চমকপ্রদ চিত্রকল্প, ভাব ও অনুভবের বৈভব, লোকপুরাণ ও
ঐতিহ্য-সংরক্তি, জাতীয় জীবনের সামগ্রিক অর্জন ও গৌরবের সাথে একাত্মবোধ এবং সমস্ত অন্যায়-অত্যাচার ও রাষ্ট্রবিরোধী ষড়যন্ত্রের বিরুদ্ধে বজ্রনির্ঘোষ উচ্চারণের তেজস্বিতা নিয়ে খোন্দকার আশরাফ হোসেনের আবির্ভাব। তিন দশকেরও কিছু বেশি সময় ব্যাপী সাহিত্য চর্চার কল্যাণে বাংলা কবিতার ঐশ্বর্য-মহল তাঁর সংখ্যাস্বল্প তথাপি মূল্যবান দানে ঋদ্ধ। নিরীক্ষণ-আতিশয্য , উত্তরাধুনিকতার উচ্চবাচ্য আর গদ্য-কবিতার দোহাই পেড়ে বাংলা কবিতাঙ্গনে এক অমার্জনীয় পাপাচারের বৈনাশিকতার বিপরীতে গিয়ে নতুন অথচ ঐতিহ্যের গভীরে প্রোথিত এক কাব্যধারার জন্ম দেন কবি আশরাফ। বেশ কিছু কাব্যিক ও ভাষিক দুর্বলতা থাকা সত্ত্বেও তার কবিতা উৎরে গেছে সমকালীন জীবনের বহুমাত্রিক বিষয়ের মর্মমূলে পৌঁছুনোর সহজাত প্রতিভার বদৌলতে, বিভিন্ন ঘটনার মধ্যেকার সংকেতলিপি উদ্ধারের সামর্থ্যের কল্যাণে এবং শাশ্বত বঙ্গীয় জীবনের বৃহত্তর স্রোতে অবগাহন করার মানসিকতার সৌজন্যে। সময়ের ব্যবধানে তার কাব্যের ভাষা, প্রকাশভঙ্গি ও আঙ্গিকে পরিবর্তন, রূপান্তর এলেও তাঁর কাব্যবীক্ষণ বরাবরই ঐতিহ্য-নিবিড়, দেশমাতৃকা ও ইতিহাস-চেতনার প্রতি নিবেদিত। আর তিন দশকের কাব্যচর্চার ফসল থেকে স্বনির্বাচিত সেরা কবিতাগুলোর স্বকৃত ইংরেজি অনুবাদ-সংকলন “On Behula’s Raft”, স্বতন্ত্র গ্রন্থ হিশেবেই যেটার মূল্যায়ন তিনি প্রত্যাশা করেছেন, তাঁর কাব্যমানসের নির্যাস ধারণ করে। এ প্রবন্ধটি “On Behula’s Raft” গ্রন্থে বিরাজিত আশরাফীয় কাব্য-প্রতীতি ও কবিসত্তার মূলসুর অন্বেষণের প্রয়াস মাত্র।
Global Journal of Human-Social Science: A Arts & Humanties-Psychology, 2022
Like other countries across the globe, Bangladesh is also experiencing an environmental turn in l... more Like other countries across the globe, Bangladesh is also experiencing an environmental turn in literature. Eco-fiction and climate fiction are the new avatars of contemporary literature with a particular focus on ecological concerns. This kind of literature is on the rise as the world grapples with 'climate emergency', a new entry in Oxford Dictionaries. The governing theme and subject-matter of such literature pertain to the environment, which has encountered severe challenges causing a massive threat to the existence of humans and non-humans alike. In addition, the eco-focused literature highlights the degradation of biodiversity at local and global levels. Similarly, environmental pollution is a common feature of almost any global discourse including literary studies. Besides, global warming is a buzzword occupying a huge space in academic discussions. As a branch of humanities, literature responds to such phenomena through evocative storytelling informed by scientific facts and suggestions. The latest theoretical school namely, ecocriticism studies the environment in all its manifestations and nuances available as an active and evocative force in literature.
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2017
In the volume On Behula's Raft published in 2008 by Khondakar Ashraf Hossain, some significan... more In the volume On Behula's Raft published in 2008 by Khondakar Ashraf Hossain, some significant social, cultural, political and historical aspects of Bangladesh figure repeatedly. This paper tries to explain how these aspects are reflected in Hossain's poems through text analysis of the primary material and some other primary and secondary sources. In this volume, Behula myth is found to be re-created and modified to suit Hossain's exploration into and celebration of, and commitment to Bangladesh, his beloved and beautiful motherland. Some important characters have been highlighted in this volume such as Bangabandhu's daughter Sheikh Hasina, a victim of fanaticism named Noorjahan, a legendary Bengali female poet called Kankabati and a Dhaka rickshaw-puller named Abushama to present various socio-politico-economic aspects of Bangladesh. Moreover, Bangladesh's liberation war, political reality, problems and potentials have been depicted in most of the poems in the v...
Book Reviews by Liton Chakraborty Mithun
The Asian Age (Bangladeshi newspaper), 2023
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s political vision is very much rooted in the soil of his mothe... more Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s political vision is very much rooted in the soil of his motherland, Bangladesh. He upholds what Aldo Leopold termed “land ethic” in his seminal book A Sand County Almanac (1949). According to Leopold, “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” He also went on to say, "The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land”. An ecologically-based land ethic pays respect to all members of the biotic community, not just homo sapiens. Although Bangabandhu’s political consciousness revolves mostly around human beings– his Bengali people as well as the other “Wretched of the Earth” (Fanon, 1961) – it also demonstrates a significant ethic of care for nonhumans. Especially, his biophilia and environmental consciousness puts him apart from most leaders the world has ever produced. As an individual and a statesman, he exemplifies ecological sensibilities. Bangabandhur Brikkho O Prokriti Bhabna (Bangabandhu’s Reflections on Plants and Nature) by Mokaram Hossain has brilliantly coalesced the leader’s myriad thoughts and actions with regards to nature and the environment.
The Asian Age (Bangladeshi newspaper), 2023
If the Bengali nation-state of Bangladesh is a collaborative artwork, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur ... more If the Bengali nation-state of Bangladesh is a collaborative artwork, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the single most prominent artist whose genius stroke of artistic excellence remains the biggest creative push behind the project. It is as if he was born with the mission to lift a people ravaged by centuries of neglect, ignominy, oppression and diminution to the plane of glory: free nationhood. His politics epitomizes the Bengali aspirations denied time and again by the crooked forces of history. In him lies the "mahamanav", the messiah of Bengalis as dreamt-for by poets like Rabindranath Tagore and writers like S. Wajid Ali. With all his human limitations, he embodies the best in the Bengalis. But the challenges he has faced in his bid to steer his people into the ultimate quest for identity are enormous. Syed Badrul Ahsan's latest book Bangladesh: Political Odyssey of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (2023) is a laudatory endeavor to sketch out the portrait of the political artist as he evolves from a protesting rural teen to be the founder of a dream project: Bangladesh.
Books by Liton Chakraborty Mithun
Troyee Prokashan, 2022
This book discusses some of the key contemporary writers and poets of Bangladesh.
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Papers by Liton Chakraborty Mithun
most cases, women are denied agency and freedom over their bodies. Men have exerted their power on the female body in the form of subjugation, repression, oppression, and exploitation. Hence, rape
and all forms of sexual assault on women in the context of wars can be considered a patriarchal tool to assert the dominance of the attacking party and demoralize the community under attack. The victims of
sexual attacks undergo psychological trauma during and after the war. In this context, Tarfia Faizullah’s debut collection of poems Seam appears as a feminist investigation into the narrative of rape victims of the Bangladesh Liberation War. This book lends voice to the rape victims of the 1971 war whose bodies were politicized by the androcentric Pakistani army. Through a feminist lens, this qualitative paper will endeavor to explore how the female body served as a site of patriarchal domination in the Bangladesh Liberation War in the light of Seam.
Keywords: patriarchy, rape, violence, Birangona, feminism
ঐতিহ্য-সংরক্তি, জাতীয় জীবনের সামগ্রিক অর্জন ও গৌরবের সাথে একাত্মবোধ এবং সমস্ত অন্যায়-অত্যাচার ও রাষ্ট্রবিরোধী ষড়যন্ত্রের বিরুদ্ধে বজ্রনির্ঘোষ উচ্চারণের তেজস্বিতা নিয়ে খোন্দকার আশরাফ হোসেনের আবির্ভাব। তিন দশকেরও কিছু বেশি সময় ব্যাপী সাহিত্য চর্চার কল্যাণে বাংলা কবিতার ঐশ্বর্য-মহল তাঁর সংখ্যাস্বল্প তথাপি মূল্যবান দানে ঋদ্ধ। নিরীক্ষণ-আতিশয্য , উত্তরাধুনিকতার উচ্চবাচ্য আর গদ্য-কবিতার দোহাই পেড়ে বাংলা কবিতাঙ্গনে এক অমার্জনীয় পাপাচারের বৈনাশিকতার বিপরীতে গিয়ে নতুন অথচ ঐতিহ্যের গভীরে প্রোথিত এক কাব্যধারার জন্ম দেন কবি আশরাফ। বেশ কিছু কাব্যিক ও ভাষিক দুর্বলতা থাকা সত্ত্বেও তার কবিতা উৎরে গেছে সমকালীন জীবনের বহুমাত্রিক বিষয়ের মর্মমূলে পৌঁছুনোর সহজাত প্রতিভার বদৌলতে, বিভিন্ন ঘটনার মধ্যেকার সংকেতলিপি উদ্ধারের সামর্থ্যের কল্যাণে এবং শাশ্বত বঙ্গীয় জীবনের বৃহত্তর স্রোতে অবগাহন করার মানসিকতার সৌজন্যে। সময়ের ব্যবধানে তার কাব্যের ভাষা, প্রকাশভঙ্গি ও আঙ্গিকে পরিবর্তন, রূপান্তর এলেও তাঁর কাব্যবীক্ষণ বরাবরই ঐতিহ্য-নিবিড়, দেশমাতৃকা ও ইতিহাস-চেতনার প্রতি নিবেদিত। আর তিন দশকের কাব্যচর্চার ফসল থেকে স্বনির্বাচিত সেরা কবিতাগুলোর স্বকৃত ইংরেজি অনুবাদ-সংকলন “On Behula’s Raft”, স্বতন্ত্র গ্রন্থ হিশেবেই যেটার মূল্যায়ন তিনি প্রত্যাশা করেছেন, তাঁর কাব্যমানসের নির্যাস ধারণ করে। এ প্রবন্ধটি “On Behula’s Raft” গ্রন্থে বিরাজিত আশরাফীয় কাব্য-প্রতীতি ও কবিসত্তার মূলসুর অন্বেষণের প্রয়াস মাত্র।
Book Reviews by Liton Chakraborty Mithun
Books by Liton Chakraborty Mithun