The Mittal Institute India office welcomes two new India Fellows, including Dr. Nobonita Rakshit, a postdoctoral scholar whose work explores how the participatory art form of graphic narratives serves as a powerful response to India’s anthropogenic water crisis. Under the mentorship of Prof. Doris Sommer, Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures in the African and African American Studies Department at Harvard University, Nobonita’s work will explore how graphical stories play crucial roles both in unveiling the historical consciousness of the postcolonial hydro-modernity and in framing water scarcity not as natural but as socio-political production in the late twentieth and twenty-first-century India.
In the interview below, Nobonita shares insights into her research, her aspirations for the fellowship, and the broader significance of her work.
Nobonita Rakshit, Mittal Institute India Fellow
Mittal Institute: Welcome to your fellowship at the Mittal Institute, Nobonita! Could you elaborate on your research interests?
Nobonita Rakshit: My research interests span postcolonial studies, South Asian literature and culture, disaster narratives, and literature and environment studies. I am specifically interested in exploring the innovative narrative techniques employed by literary writers to address the pressing environmental crises of our time. My work focuses on how literature not only reflects environmental and societal challenges but also serves as an active response to these issues, fostering awareness and dialogue.
Mittal Institute: Could you give us a brief overview of the research topic that you will be pursuing over the course of your fellowship at the Mittal Institute?
Nobonita Rakshit: The unprecedented water crisis in India has posed a severe threat to millions of lives and livelihoods. The alarming statistics of the consequences of the water crisis across South Asia in general and India, in particular, foretell a dire scenario of acute water scarcity, affecting hundreds of millions of people and culminating in an estimated ~6% decline in the nation’s GDP. At this time, there is an urgent need to communicate scientific data on water scarcity to the general populace. The research topic that I will be pursuing over the course of my fellowship at the Mittal Institute is to explore how graphic literature can offer crucial insights into the political ecology of India and create a triad between scientists (in-field researchers), practitioners (writers and policymakers), and user groups (the survivors of water crisis).
Mittal Institute India fellow Nobonita Rakshit explores how the participatory art form of graphic narratives serves as a powerful response to India’s anthropogenic water crisis.
Mittal Institute: Could you describe the work you were involved with prior to this fellowship?
Nobonita Rakshit: Before joining the Mittal Institute, I served as an Academic Associate in the Communication Area at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad after completing my Ph.D. at IIT Roorkee. My doctoral research explored the environmental crisis in postcolonial South Asia through contemporary literary works. During my tenure at IIM Ahmedabad, I assisted the faculties of the Communication Area in postgraduate teaching. I continued working on my research, resulting in the publication of a paper (co-authored by my PhD supervisor, Prof. Rashmi Gaur) titled, “Return of the Repressed: Postcolonial Modernity, Climate Change, and the Peripheral Aesthetics in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island (2019)” in ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment.
Mittal Institute: How will this fellowship with the Mittal Institute benefit your research?
Nobonita Rakshit: Many works addressing water justice often conclude with succinct solutions—terms like economic redistribution, social justice, sustainable development, cohabitation, etc. However, if such solutions were so simple, then the crisis would not have arisen or could have been resolved. This fellowship provides a unique opportunity to examine the societal roles of graphic literature, where words drive change and images introduce nuanced interpretations. Graphic novels, in particular, excel in presenting different perspectives simultaneously. This fellowship will facilitate my research in delving deeper into these perspectives, exploring the intricate socio-political and cultural interrelationship between water and human societies.
This fellowship provides a unique opportunity to examine the societal roles of graphic literature, where words drive change and images introduce nuanced interpretations. Graphic novels, in particular, excel in presenting different perspectives simultaneously. – Nobonita Rakshit, Mittal Institute India fellow
Mittal Institute: What are you most excited about for your year at the Mittal Institute?
Nobonita Rakshit: Besides getting an opportunity to continue my research work, I am most excited about the interdisciplinary and collaborative environment at the Mittal Institute, which will provide unparalleled opportunities to engage with scholars, artists, and policymakers working on pressing challenges in South Asia. The Institute’s resources and network will allow me to delve deeper into my research while fostering meaningful dialogues with experts across disciplines. Additionally, I look forward to engaging with Harvard’s vibrant intellectual community, attending thought-provoking seminars, and contributing to the discourse on environmental justice through my work on graphic literature and hydropolitics.
☆ The views represented herein are those of the interview subject and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Mittal Institute, its staff, or its Steering Committee.
