ISOIS 2026 Poster [Brochure-PDF]
Ecosophical Foundation for the Study of Literature and Environment (EFSLE)
organizes
A Two-day International Seminar
In association with
Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
on
Embodied Ecologies and Sacred Landscapes: Interpreting Indian Knowledge Tradition on Island Spaces
December 14-15, 2026
Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands, India
About EFSLE:
EFSLE (Ecosophical Foundation for the Study of Literature and Environment) is a Non-profit Organization and an International Open Academic Forum for creative interaction among intellectuals, academicians, environmental activists, naturalists, nature-lovers, and those involved and earnestly dedicated to these issues and who are receptive and undogmatic to one another’s individuality and their standpoints. It intends to amalgamate two relevant issues Gender and Human Rights with Literature and Environment primarily initiated by Dr. Rishikesh Kumar Singh what he calls it the LEGH Movement (Literature, Environment, Gender and Human Rights) – A Socio-Ecoliterary Movement. This is the first venture of its kind where all the four issues are juxtaposed together. This specialty makes this movement relevant.
Though ‘Environment and Literature’ is our core concern however, this environment prominently includes the human environment too, where we care for the most vulnerable sections of the society. It includes empowering women, children care towards their holistic development and sustainable livelihood for all the deprived sections of the society. Amalgamating all these fields of studies this organization tends to be the world’s largest platform of its kind. Interdisciplinary and Multi-disciplinary aspects are its bases. We have our Executive Councils in all the Twenty-eight (28) Indian states and Eight (8) Union Territories. Also, we are working in 18 countries (plus 7 proposed ones) across the globe.
About Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman:
Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder is the only Higher Learning Institute in the District of Middle and North Andaman. Its sphere of activity and catchment area ranges from Paschimsagar of Diglipur upto Baratang encompassing a large chunk of territory and majority population. Initially started at Car Nicobar in the year 1990 and later shifted to Mayabunder in the year 1994. In a sprouting campus of 34.88 Acres eco-friendly atmosphere, enchanting sea and virgin forest, the college is an attraction not only to the students but also to tourists and visitors who visit to Karmatang beach. Initially started with a meager student strength of less than 100, it has now reached to a total strength of 897 with 41 teaching staff, 30 non-teaching staff and more than 50 supporting staff. The college premises has all the basic amenities required for teaching and learning. This college is affiliated to Pondicherry University.
Concept Note:
Indian knowledge traditions have long imagined land, water, and life-worlds as sacred, relational, and more-than-human, weaving together rituals, narratives, cosmologies, and practices of care that exceed modern disciplinary boundaries. Island spaces—whether riverine sandbars, coastal archipelagos, sacred groves on hill-islands, or temple-tanks experienced as spiritual islands—offer particularly rich terrains for exploring embodied ecologies, ritualised forms of dwelling, and ecological memory.
At a time when rising seas, climate displacement, and extractive tourism threaten fragile coastal and island ecologies, a re-reading of Indian epistemologies—Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, Buddhist, indigenous, folk and regional traditions—can illuminate alternative modes of inhabiting and narrating island spaces. From temple tanks and sacred groves to coastal pilgrimage circuits and maritime mythologies, these landscapes stage complex negotiations between sacrality, ecology, and community stewardship, offering historical precedents for contemporary debates on sustainability, resilience, and environmental justice.
This EFSLE International Seminar (ISOIS 2026) aims to foreground “embodied ecologies” not merely as metaphor but as lived practice: the sensorial, corporeal and ritual engagements through which communities remember and sustain island environments. It also invites critical attention to “sacred landscapes” as dynamic, contested spaces where indigenous ontologies, state conservation regimes, blue economy projects, and hydrocolonial histories intersect. Reading island spaces through Indian knowledge traditions allows us to ask how story, song, pilgrimage, local taboo, and everyday labour inscribe ecological ethics into bodies and environments, and how these inscriptions travel across Oceans, Diasporas and Transregional networks.
Being a multidisciplinary and an interdisciplinary conference, original research papers from all the streams are most welcome to discuss such grave issues largely related, but not exclusively limited, to the following sub-themes:
Sub-themes:
- Island imaginaries in Indian epics, purāṇas and regional oral traditions.
- Sacred groves, hill-temples and river-islands as ecocritical case studies in India.
- Blue humanities approaches to Indian Ocean island literatures and visual cultures.
- Hydrocolonial histories, port cities and archipelagic memory in South Asian writing.
- Indigenous eco-cosmologies and sacred islanded spaces (forests, caves, waterfalls).
- Temple tanks, stepwells and water-bodies as ritual islands and ecological infrastructures.
- Pilgrimage circuits, coastal monasteries and shrine networks as sacred seascapes.
- Indian philosophical concepts (prakṛti, panchabhūta, ṛta, dharma) and ecological ethics on islands.
- Climate change, rising seas, and narratives of displacement in Indian and Indian Ocean fiction.
- Gendered, Dalit, and indigenous embodiments of island labour, fisheries and coastal resilience.
- Environmental jurisprudence, rights of nature, and sacred landscapes in Indian and Latin American dialogues.
- Comparative studies of Andaman–Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and other island regions as sacred ecologies.
- Oceanic pedagogy, ecospiritual movements, and community-based conservation in island contexts.
- Visual, performative and digital arts engaging sacred island landscapes and ecological memory.
- Methodological reflections on archipelagic thinking, geophilosophy and decolonial ecologies in Indian contexts.
Important Dates:
- Registration Starts on: 01 July 2026
- Deadline for Submission of Abstracts: 15 August 2026
- Intimation of Acceptance: within 15 days after receiving the Abstract
- (If selected, the participants may proceed with registration afterwards)
- Final Paper Submission (first draft): 15 November 2026
Notes:
- Abstract of 300 words with 5 keywords must be mailed to- md@efsle.org
- Mention “ISOIS 2026” or “Mayabunder Seminar” in the subject line.
- Please use 12 point Times New Roman and avoid footnotes.
- The full paper must be within 6000-10000 words (excluding all the references and the abstract). Use the latest MLA style of referencing.
- Selected Papers will be published in an edited volume with ISBN no. (Not in the form of conference proceedings, instead a complete edited book- The proposed publisher will be Bloomsbury.
- The papers selected after the initial review of first drafts will be considered for publication. Authors will be notified via email after the conference regarding the submission of revised or edited versions, if required, as the volume is intended as a post-conference publication.
- Authors are requested to attach their bio-note (in third person, not exceeding 100 words) separately.
Registration Categories:
- The registration fee for the EFSLE members and Non-members both are given separately.
- The EFSLE life members who wish to participate both the event Dec. 9-12 and Dec. 14-15, they are requested to contact the programme coordinator before the registration to avoid any further confusion.
- This week-long Ecoscimatic Retreat Programme is designed to amalgamate academic events, intellectual discourse and tour & travel all together.
Organizing Committee:
Chief Patron:
Dr. Chandra Bhushan Kumar, IAS, Chief Secretary, A&N Islands, India
Patron:
Dr. R. V. R. Murthy, Principal, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Convener:
Dr. Satya Prakash, HoD & Asst. Professor, Department of Geography, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands, Mob: 00-91-9531900454
Organizing Secretary:
Dr. Bidhhu Bhushan Mondal, Head & Asst. Professor, Department of English, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Co-conveners:
Dr. Kandi Muthu, Asst. Professor, Department of Economics, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Dr. Rishikesh Kumar Singh President, EFSLE, New Delhi. Mob: 00-91-9205037771
Dr. Dilip Kumar Jaiswal– HoD, Dept. of Sanskrit, Vivekanand College, University of Delhi, Managing Director (hon.), EFSLE, New Delhi
Chief Coordinator:
Dr. Uday Kumar, Assistant Regional Director, IGNOU, Sri Vijaya Puram, A&N Islands
Coordinators:
Dr. M Selvam, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Dr. Kiran Bhairannavar, Associate Professor, Geography Department, DSE, Delhi University, Secretary, EFSLE, New Delhi
Dr. Swetha Antony, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Delhi, Additional Secretary, EFSLE, New Delhi
Organizing Committee Members:
Dr. Rohit Shah, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Dr. Yashodhara Shaileshbhai Mehta, Asst. Professor, Department of Hindi, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Dr. Godson Bedeiah, Asst. Professor, Department of English, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Dr. Prashant kumar Choudhary, Asst. Professor, Department of Physical Education, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Dr. Azharuddin Saha, Asst. Professor, Department of English, Mahatma Gandhi Govt. College, Mayabunder, North-Middle Andaman, A&N Islands
Dr. Asha Tiwari, Associate Professor, Sanskrit Department, Bharati College, University of Delhi, Chief Coordinator, EFSLE, New Delhi
Prof. (Dr.) Siddhartha Singh, English Department, Sri JNMPG College, Lucknow, Zonal Secretary, NE Zone, EFSLE
Dr. Jochibed Vincent, Assistant Professor, English Department, Andaman College, Sri Vijaya Puram, A&N Islands & Regional Secretary, EFSLE.
Mr. Brajesh Kumar, Executive Council Member, EFSLE, New Delhi
Prof. Kavita Arora, Dept. of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi
Dr. Manjulata Rao, Principal, Tagore Govt. College of Education, Sri Vijaya Puram, A&N Islands
Dr. S. Jayakumar, Principal, Andaman College (ANCOL), Sri Vijaya Puram, A&N Islands
Prof. (Dr.) Huma Yaqub, English Department, MANUU, Lucknow
Dr. Rashmi Rani Anand, Asst. Professor, Centre for African Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
Dr. Bharti Rai, English Department, Lucknow University
Dr. Raj Gaurav Verma, English Department, Lucknow University
Dr. Saima Mehdi, English Department, Shia College, Lucknow
Mrs. Vijaya Laxmi, Treasurer, EFSLE, New Delhi
Dr. Aishwarya Maindola, Clinical Psychologist, New Delhi
Logistics & Tour Committee:
Mr. Kumar Paarth, Programme Coordinator, EFSLE, New Delhi, 9953833313
For EFSLE Bank Account Details, Click the link:
https://www.efsle.org/efsle-account-detail/
For Detailed Information, go through this link:
https://www.efsle.org/isois-2026/
