A Study of Material Ecologies and Structures of Colonial Extraction In Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy

Abstract

This Research explored how colonial extraction material ecologies and structures are represented in the Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh in an eco-critical and postcolonial critique. The qualitative and interpretative research methodology, applied in the study, relied on the close textual analysis of Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire. The results showed that colonialism was a system of economy and ecology that has turned land, water, crops, and human labor into commodities in the world trade networks, especially opium trade. The discussion has also illuminated the disruption of material ecologies through monoculture practices, environmental degradation, and forced labor systems resulting in an ecological long-term imbalance and inequality. The paper has also shown that Ghosh used multi-perspective narrative to prefigure marginalized voices and argue against the colonial capitalism logic of exploitation. The study contributed to the literature of environmental humanities by its emphasis on the relationship between environmental systems and human systems as well as its description of the relevance of eco-materialism to the study of the past and the present environmental problems.