Rob White’s environmental, ecological, and species justice perspectives and the threshold of grief in Sheela Tomy’s Valli

Abstract

Sheela Tomy’s Valli stands out as a literary intervention that exposes the harms and injustices inflicted on marginalised communities, the environment, and non-human animals in Wayanad, Kerala. Drawing on Green Criminology as a theoretical framework, with a focus on Rob White’s eco-justice perspectives, this study examines how Tomy’s novel foregrounds and critiques ecological injustices experienced by the Adivasis, as well as threats to the Wayanad ecosystem and its non-human inhabitants. By framing deforestation, land encroachment, resource extraction, and unethical tourism as ‘green crimes’ beyond their narrow legal scope, this article situates the novel within justice-oriented perspectives, revealing how anthropogenic practices perpetuate violence. The study further explores how environmental degradation destabilises the mental well-being of the people, pushing them into a liminal state of disconnection from their ancestral lands. In conclusion, this study demonstrates through Tomy’s narrative that ecological harm disrupts not only the physical environment but also the psychological and social fabric, situating marginalised groups in a liminal state, and emphasising the need for an ethical framework that recognises co-existence and interdependence.