Visualising Heterotopias in Urban Spaces in Select South Asian English Fiction

Abstract

Ecological challenges and environmental crises are topics that are discussed not only by ecological activists; they have spilled over into global mainstream discourse. Critics such as Cheryll Glotfelty and Andrew Karvonen have discussed the interconnectedness of nature, culture, and the resultant narratives. Foucault’s heterotopias, in simplest terms, are utopias which exist in the real world. Heterotopian spaces can be used as a theoretical tool to locate ecological spatial importance in South Asian fiction. Temsula Ao and Manjushree Thapa have established a meaningful link between heterotopian spaces and their relation to the greening of South Asian regions in Laburnum for My Head (2009) and Seasons of Flight (2010), respectively. Offering an insightful examination of urban ecological studies, this paper not only contributes to the effort to bridge the gap between literary texts and the environment but also discusses how heterotopian spaces exist in urban human settlements and their relation to the greening of geographical regions.