War, Migration and Environmental Consequences: A Green Reading of Kamila Shamsie’s Burnt Shadows

Md Muslim and Prasunjay Kumar Sinha

SAP Community and Interculturality in Dialogue, 2026

Abstract: Introduction: Kamila Shamsie’s Burnt Shadows is a transnational novel that moves across multiple historical moments shaped by war, migration, and political violence. Beyond its exploration of human suffering and displacement, the narrative also reflects profound environmental consequences resulting from global conflicts.Objective: This study aims to examine the novel through an ecocritical perspective, highlighting how environmental degradation is interconnected with socio-political upheavals and historical trauma.Method: Using the theoretical framework of green criticism, the research analyzes key historical events depicted in the novel—such as the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Partition of India, the Afghan war, and the post-9/11 global conflict. The study focuses on the representation of landscapes, environmental imagery, and metaphorical associations between ecological damage and fractured identities.Results: The analysis reveals that environmental destruction in the novel parallels human trauma and displacement. Landscapes marked by burning, division, and devastation function as symbolic reflections of psychological and cultural fragmentation. Nature emerges not merely as a background setting but as both witness to and victim of violence, emphasizing the interdependence between ecological systems and human history.Conclusion: The study concludes that ecological trauma is deeply embedded in the thematic structure of Burnt Shadows. The novel ultimately calls for environmental consciousness, historical responsibility, and a more sustainable global future.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cwf:cidart:cid2026178

DOI: 10.56294/cid2026178

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