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- Convenors:
-
Sowparnika Balaswaminathan
(Concordia University, Montreal)
Kedar Kulkarni (FLAME University)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- (FNLM) Folk Narrative, Literature, and Media
- Location:
- O-201
- Sessions:
- Sunday 14 June, -
Time zone: UTC
Short Abstract
This panel explores the boundaries and crossings found in folk narratives of the “natural” environment in anthropocene Asia through film, literature and other media. We emphasize interdisciplinary approaches that entangle disparate religious and cultural formations, and challenge fixed identities.
Long Abstract
Living in the anthropocene ensures that entanglements between human and non-human environments are the norm rather than the exception. And yet crossing boundaries–or even maintaining them–speaks to deep epistemologies that guide the journey of a character in society, through life, or in specific situations. These boundaries could exist in multiple “real” or “imagined” terrains, with crossings that index transgression, transformation, reification, among others. Anthropological scholarship has historically emphasized the liminal potential of such boundary-crossings, especially in the performance of rituals. Contemporary research broadens the scope to include animal-human, more-than-human, and object-centric epistemologies. Theoretical work in literary and performance studies has also followed approaches in other disciplines, increasing the scope of inquiry beyond the human. But folk narratives remain beyond the purview of literary studies, which tends to focus on “modern” genres.
We invite papers that examine boundaries and crossings in anthropocene Asian folk narratives of environment and nature, specifically around soil and terrain, waterways, arboreal and biological communities, constructed ecologies, and perspectival entities. Whether in film, literature or other media, our stance towards genre is neutral, so long as panelists significantly engage with classic and contemporary scholarship to enable a renewed understanding of boundaries and their crossing. We hope too, that our panel will transgress the boundaries of discipline, entangle disparate religious and cultural formations, and challenge fixed identities.
Accepted papers
Session 1 Sunday 14 June, 2026, -Paper short abstract
This paper explores how matagi bear-hunting lore frames mountains as sacred boundaries where crossing into the bear’s realm demanded ritual reciprocity. These narratives blur human–nature divides and speak to Anthropocene concerns over survival, fragility, and ecological transgression.
Paper long abstract
This paper examines how Japanese bear-hunting traditions narrate the mountains as both a physical and spiritual boundary, one that hunters repeatedly crossed in pursuit of survival and meaning. The semi-professional hunters (matagi) of northeastern Japan regarded the mountains not merely as terrain but as a realm governed by deities, spirits, and strict ritual codes. Entering this space required purification, prayer, and adherence to taboos, for to cross into the bear’s domain was to engage with a world both dangerous and sacred. Bear lore reflects this duality. Tales often portray the bear as a “mountain god” incarnate, blurring distinctions between prey and deity. Successful hunts depended not only on skill but on ritual reciprocity: offerings of rice or saké, words of apology to the slain bear, and prayers of gratitude. These practices framed the act of hunting as a crossing that was never casual but always morally and cosmologically fraught. With the decline of matagi culture during modernization, such boundaries have been redrawn. Yet mountains as liminal zones remain central in cultural memory, symbolizing both ecological fragility and continuing human attachments to the “natural” environment. Examining matagi lore through the lens of boundary-crossing shows how Japanese folk traditions blur human–nature divides and foreground Anthropocene concerns about survival, reciprocity, and the costs of exceeding ecological limits.
Paper short abstract
In this paper I examine two South Indian cinematic explorations of folk narratives that instrumentalize the boundary-crossing abilities of their respective protagonists to interrogate contemporary political questions of land sovereignty of tribal and rural communities.
Paper long abstract
In this paper I examine two South Indian cinematic explorations of folk narratives that instrumentalize the boundary-crossing abilities of their respective protagonists to interrogate contemporary political questions of land sovereignty of tribal and rural communities. The Tamil film Karnan (2021, Dir. Mari Selvaraj) narrates the heroic journey of its titular protagonist whose community is turned into a kaatu (uncivilized place) through the denial of civil infrastructure by the state and the consequent dehumanization of its inhabitants. Speaking to caste inequality, the struggle of the community is enlivened by Kaatu Pechi, the deified dead sister of Karnan, who emerges as witness whenever the spirit of rebellion arouses in the community. Kantara (2022; Dir. Rishab Shetty) is a Kannada film centered on the conflict between the princely state, a tribal community, and the postcolonial secular government over forest land and spiritual agents. Drawing from the folk traditions of bhoota kola, the protagonist Shiva is interpellated into a supernatural being, Panjurli, and later, the violent Guliga, to fight for the community when the ancestral treaty is broken by the king’s descendants. The state emerges as a seemingly neutral party, its violent mechanisms variably deployed against the community and the king. In both films, I argue that the boundaries between the material and spiritual, civilization and wilderness, state and subject, and male and female are disturbed, and the spiritually possessed actors challenge established norms through their crossings.
Paper short abstract
The Goddess of Rice, Dewi Sri, in East Java, Indonesia, embodies a blend of folklore and religious ethics. They teach sustainable food practices, gratitude, and strengthen community harmony, aligning with the United Nations SDGs 12 and 16.
Paper long abstract
This study explores the Javanese folktale of Dewi Sri, the Goddess of Rice, emphasising the integration of traditional beliefs and religious teachings in East Java, Indonesia. Although Dewi Sri’s origins predate Islam, which is the predominant religion in Java, her associated traditions continue to thrive through various rituals, such as the 'slametan', a communal feast characterised by the sharing of food and prayers, and the 'sedekah bumi', a harvest offering ceremony. These practices embody not only Javanese values but also Islamic principles, including gratitude (syukur), moderation (wasatiyyah), and stewardship (amanah), while promoting social harmony and community solidarity. The narrative of Dewi Sri teaches essential lessons resonating with both Javanese and religious principles regarding empathy, respect for nature, and the collective efforts of parents, farmers, sellers, and all those involved in food provision, alongside responsible food consumption, which aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 (responsible consumption and production). Furthermore, by nurturing inclusivity, shared responsibility, and moral accountability within communal life, these rituals exemplify SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions). Ultimately, the enduring traditions associated with Dewi Sri not only enrich cultural identity but also enhance social cohesion and sustainability in an increasingly dynamic world.
Paper short abstract
In this paper, I explore the conceptual and institutional boundaries between Mudiyettu, a folk theatre, and Mohiniyattam, a classical dance tradition, both from Kerala, India. Such a juxtaposition makes visible the crossings—between ritual and art, village and stage, nature and institution.
Paper long abstract
In this paper, I explore the conceptual and institutional boundaries between Mudiyettu, a folk theatre, and Mohiniyattam, a classical dance tradition, both from Kerala, India. The categories of folk and classical are a staple of Indian cultural studies, even though the categories are porous, and constantly negotiated. My paper focuses on pedagogy and how to illustrate these categories in a class room, and on a field trip. Contrast is one technique. In particular, villages commission and stage Mudiyettu as part of an agrarian calendar, after the winter harvest, during a transitional time in February and March. It is a commemorative ritual drama that marks a specific but recurrent point in time. By contrast, artists perform Mohiniyattam, on proscenium stages and train in institutionalized spaces, emphasizing aesthetic refinement. Placing them side by side, interrogating them as productions within and without an ecology, as performances with and without embodied participation enables students to critically reflect upon the place of folk and mythic narrative in their world, through genre and performance itself as a lens, if not full a perspectival entity. Such a juxtaposition makes visible the crossings—between ritual and art, village and stage, nature and institution—that complicate the folk/classical divide in Indian performance.
Paper short abstract
Myths do not simply travel; they transform. In Gun Island, Amitav Ghosh traces how folklores from the Sundarbans in Bengal resurface in Venice and the Mediterranean. The paper presents myth as a hydromorphic form shaped by water's material form and sustained through wet labour.
Paper long abstract
Water does not just transform itself into multiple mediums, but also transforms everything it touches, including people, places and the cosmology of folktales. In Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island (2019), myths transform and evolve according to their hydrological environments. This paper argues that the folk narrative of Bonbibi, Bonduki Saudagar, and Manasa, originating from the Sundarbans in Bengal, transforms itself by traversing through different waterways from the Sundarbans to the lagoons of Venice and finally to the Mediterranean.
The argument draws on the concept of liquid cartography to emphasise that myths and legends are not only displaced but are reshaped by the ecological and political conditions of the waters they navigate. Meaning, ethics and identity change depending upon whether a myth is situated in silt, lagoon or ocean. These transformations show that myth is a hydromorphic narrative form that absorbs and adapts to each watery space it moves through.
Parallel to water’s morphic ability in myths, ‘wet labour’ also helps make myths portable across regions. The amphibious labourers, from the boatmen of the Sundarbans to warehouse labourers, to activists on the boat Lucaina, reproduce the entanglement of myth, labour and ecoprecarity. This paper employs myth, ecology, blue economy and blue humanities to read Gun Island not simply as a novel on ecological crisis but to establish that folk narratives are not fixed but are constantly created and destroyed in the respective medium through which they travel.