About Me

“As an academic, I have always been haunted by the question, ‘How am I contributing to the world?’ Attending a couple of ASLE conferences in India in the early 2000s answered this question satisfactorily for me because it put me in touch with a theory that emphasized the importance of relating to the earth and its human and nonhuman others in a meaningful manner. Ecocriticism, in other words, appeared to be a consciousness-raising experience to me.”

— Swarnalatha Rangarajan, in “Listening to Earth Stories: An Interview with Swarnalatha Rangarajan,” interviewed by K. Sufina and Bhuvaneswari R., The Goose, vol. 16, no. 2, 2018.

My Work

I am particularly interested in how literary and cultural narratives help us reimagine human relationships with the more-than-human worlds. My work engages with postcolonial ecocriticism, environmental justice, petrofiction and energy humanities, Indigenous and community-based ecological knowledge, and the environmental imaginaries of women writing nature from the Global South.

Why Ecocriticism Matters

For me, ecocriticism is not merely a critical method; it is a way of cultivating ecological attention. It asks us to recognize that stories, languages, memories, and cultural practices shape how societies value nature, distribute environmental harm, and imagine just futures.

Through my teaching, research, translation,  and mentoring, I hope to encourage students and fellow scholars to see literature as a space for ecological reflection, ethical responsibility, and social transformation.

Selected Interests

• Ecocriticism and environmental humanities
• Environmental justice and climate justice
• Environmental narratives from the Global South
• Petrofiction, energy humanities, and the Anthropocene
• Medical-environmental humanities and environmental life writing
• Ecosophy and the greening of religions

Office Location

• Room no: HSB 332C
• E-mail: swarna[at]iitm[.]ac[.]in
• Phone : +91 (44) 2257 4519

COURSES TAUGHT IN IIT MADRAS:

Environmental Studies & Ecocriticism

• Literature and the Environment
• Literature of Environmental Justice
• Ecofiction
• Literatures of the Anthropocene

Classical Authors & Period Studies

• Chaucer, Milton and the Bible
• Shakespeare
• Romantic Literature and Philosophy

Language Skills & Communication

• Advanced English
• English for Communication

Foundational & Humanistic Studies

• Literature and Life
• Literature and Values

• Awarded the University Grants Commission Senior Research Fellowship (1995–2000).
• Awarded the Fulbright Pre-doctoral Fellowship to Harvard University (1999–2000).
• Won the Thomas Wolfe International Student Essay Prize (2000).
• Received funding from IC&SR, IIT Madras, for the research project “The Role of Religious Texts in Forging an Ecological Self” (2006).
• Selected for a fellowship grant by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study for the research project “Women Writing Nature” (June 2010).
• Awarded the Inter-University Centre (IUC) Fellowship at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (2011–2013).
• Awarded the Charles Wallace Fellowship to Cambridge University (2013).
• Received the ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) Translation Award alongside Sreejith Varma (2015).
• Secured an Exploratory Research Project grant from IIT Madras with Prof. K. Srilata for “Investigating Gynocritics: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers from Tamil Nadu” (2016).
• Serves as Co-PI for the DST SRI project funded under the Science and Heritage Research Initiative, titled “Digitization of Environmentally Sustainable Practices of the Bishnoi Community for Wider Knowledge Dissemination and Effectiveness” (August 2025–present).

• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “A Text for Nothingness: The Beckettian Predicament in Krishna Baldev Vaid’s Dying Alone.” Contemporary Discourse, vol. 1, no. 2, 2010, pp. 18–24.
• Asokan, Anu, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Writing an Era of Tribal Repression: Mahasweta Devi’s Chotti Munda and His Arrow.” Thematics Journal of Indian Literature, 2011, pp. 32–37.
• Asokan, Anu, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Writing the Subaltern into Being: Tribals and Nature in Mahasweta Devi’s Pterodactyl.” Contemporary Research in India, 2011, pp. 4–10.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Ecocriticism of the Global South: Environmental Justice Perspectives from India.” Critical Imprints, 2014, pp. 90–114.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “In Andal’s Garden: The Ecological Implications of Earth-Based Religiosity.” The Ravenshaw Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, edited by Scott Slovic, special issue on Ecocriticism, vol. 4, 2014, pp. 1–23.
• Parvi, Basma, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “The Meaning of All Things: The Green Hermeneutic of Rumi’s Masnavi.” The Ravenshaw Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, vol. 5, 2015, pp. 100–117.
• Dilipkumar, Lakshmi Chitra, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Eco-Ability and the Corporeal Grotesque: An Analysis of Environmental Toxicity in Cherríe Moraga’s Heroes and Saints and Ambikasutan Mangad’s Swarga.” Studies in the Humanities, 2020, pp. 40–61.
• Dilipkumar, Lakshmi Chitra, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Multiple Anamorphisms: Imagining the Indigene in Pankaj Sekhsaria’s The Last Wave.” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 7, no. 1, 2021, pp. 45–63.
• Sarkar, Sanchar, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Of Devouring Waters and Unforgiving Lands: An Analysis of Premonition Ecology in Two Wetland Narratives from West Bengal.” International Journal of Fear Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, 2021, pp. 61–73.
• Sarkar, Sanchar, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “‘Do You Think It Is a Pandemic?’ Apocalypse, Anxiety and Environmental Grotesque in Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl.” Interlitteraria, vol. 27, no. 1, 2022, pp. 69–83.
• Sarkar, Sanchar, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Marine Entanglements: Tropical Materialism and Hydrographic Imaginary in Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon.” e-Tropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, special issue on Tropical Materialisms: Poetics, Practices, Possibilities, vol. 21, no. 2, 2022.
• Venugopal, Varna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Life Writing as Plant-Writing: Arboreal Encounters in Kallen Pokkudan’s Kandalkaadukalkkidayil Ente Jeevitham.” Lagoonscapes: The Venice Journal of Environmental Humanities, vol. 2, no. 2, 2022, pp. 239–252, https://doi.org/10.30687/LGSP/2785-2709/2022/04/004.
• Hegde, Ashwini, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Storying Anthropocene Waters: Advocacy through Resacralization in Postcolonial River Narratives of the Indian Subcontinent.” Religions, vol. 15, no. 10, 2024, art. 1222, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101222.
• Venugopal, Varna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Mother Trees and Memory Keepers: Botanical Life in Recent Indian Children’s Climate Fiction.” Children’s Literature in Education, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-024-09599-3.
• Venugopal, Varna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “When the ‘Gormen’ (Government) Walled Up the Rivers: Reading Sarah Joseph’s Budhini as Contemporary Indian Hydrofiction.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 60, no. 5, 2024, pp. 632–646, https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2024.2344567.
• Swayamsidha, Sadhna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “‘I Hoped for Healing’: Exploring Heart-Centric Ecologies of Recuperation in the Eco-Memoirs of Linda Hogan and Leslie Marmon Silko.” Comparative American Studies: An International Journal, 2025, pp. 1–16.
• Venugopal, Varna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Planting the Empire: Botanical Imagery, Colonialism, and the Plantation Life in Mulk Raj Anand’s Two Leaves and a Bud.” Bandung, vol. 13, no. 2, 2026, pp. 287–309, https://doi.org/10.1163/21983534-20262012.
• Swayamsidha, Sadhna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Kincentric Ecologies: Totemic Identities and Cultural Imaginaries in Easterine Kire’s Indian Tribal Fiction.”

• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Writing as Mukti: The Story of Draupadi, the Subaltern who Speaks.” Voices of the Voiceless: Perspectives on Subaltern Literatures, edited by Francis Peter, ACE-Loyola, 2003, pp. 87–94.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Ambiguous Divinity in Manil Suri’s The Death of Vishnu.” Indian Writings in English, edited by Binod Mishra and Sanjay Kumar, Atlantic Publishers, 2006, pp. 177–197.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Becoming the ‘Transparent Eye-Ball’: Ecodharma in American Transcendentalist Writing.” Essays in Ecocriticism, Sarup & Sons, 2007, pp. 114–125.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Nature as Third Space: A Study of Perumal Murugan’s Seasons of the Palm.” Literature, Ecology and Meaning, BR Publishers, 2008, pp. 77–90.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Engaging with Prakriti: A Survey of Ecocritical Praxis in India.” The Oxford Handbook of Ecocriticism, edited by Greg Garrard, Oxford UP, 2014, pp. 147–168.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Sacramental Commons and Female Agency: Oiko-Xicanisma in Ana Castillo’s So Far from God.” Environmental Crisis and Human Costs, edited by Ufuk Özdag and François Gavillon, Benjamin Franklin American Studies Research Institute, 2015.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Women Writing Nature in the Global South: New Forest Fictions from India.” Handbook of Ecocriticism and Cultural Ecology, edited by Hubert Zapf, Walter de Gruyter, 2016.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha, and Sreejith Varma. “The Politics of Land, Water and Toxins: Reading the Life-Narratives of Three Women Oikos-Carers from Kerala.” Women and Nature? Beyond Dualism in Gender, Body, and Environment, edited by Douglas A. Vakoch and Sam Mickey, Lexington Books, 2017, pp. 63–78.
• Varma, Sreejith, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “The Possibilities of a River and a Ritual Dance: An Ethnographic Analysis of Kuttan Vayali’s Bhagavathy Aatu.” Ecodocumentaries: Critical Essays, edited by Rayson K. Alex and Susan Deborah, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
• Varma, Sreejith, Anchitha Krishna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Encountering the City and the Forest in C. N. Sreekantan Nair’s Kanchana Sita.” Ecocultural Ethics: Critical Essays, edited by Rayson K. Alex et al., Lexington Books, 2017.
• Dilipkumar, Lakshmi Chitra, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Re-membering the Coyolxauhqui: Conocimiento as Environmental Activism in Ana Castillo’s So Far from God and Helena María Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus.” Green Critique: Environmental Essays, Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “The Arboreal Feminine: An Analysis of Affect and Activism in Two Ecofeminist Re-Enchantment Narratives from India.” Ecologies of Gender: Contemporary Nature Relations and the Nonhuman Turn, edited by Susanne Lettow and Sabine Nessel, Routledge, 2022.
• Venugopal, Varna, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “‘When the Black Half of the Kunni Seed Whitens’: Plant-Lore and the Plantationocene in Ambikasuthan Mangad’s Swarga.” Environmental Humanities in India, edited by Debajyoti Biswas and John C. Ryan, Springer, 2025, pp. 139–156, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-3933-2_9.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Women Writers and the Indian Anthropocene.” Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, Springer, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51703-7_112-1.
• Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. “Writing the Female Earth Body: Green Écriture in Post-Millennial Indian Fiction in English.” The Routledge Companion to Twenty-First-Century Indian Fiction in English, edited by Emma Dawson, 1st ed., Routledge, 2026, pp. 245–260.
• Hegde, Ashwini, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “Storied River, Storied Commons: Dams, Displacement and Narratives of Riparian Anthropocene in Na. D’Souza’s Submersion Tetralogy.” Terranarratives of the Western Ghats: Cultural Imaginings of the Western Ghats as a Biodiversity Hotspot, edited by Jayaditya Vittal, Gayathri Prabhu, and Nikhil Govind, Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming.
• Pathayad, Shalini, and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. “An Ecofeminist Solarpunk Reading of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.” Ecodisaster and Dystopian Imagination: Global Perspectives in Literature and Culture, edited by Soumyadeep Chakraborty and Indrajit Mukherjee, Bloomsbury Academic, expected 2027, pp. 123–137.

• The Philosophy of Education. Edited by Swarnalatha Rangarajan, TR Publications, 2009.
• Ecoambiguity, Community, and Development: Toward a Politicized Ecocriticism. Edited by Scott Slovic, Swarnalatha Rangarajan, and Vidya Sarveswaran, Lexington Books, 2014.
• Ecocriticism of the Global South. Edited by Scott Slovic, Swarnalatha Rangarajan, and Vidya Sarveswaran, Lexington Books, 2015.
• Ecocriticism: Big Ideas and Practical Strategies. Orient Blackswan, 2018.
• Mayilamma: The Life of a Tribal Eco-Warrior. Translated by Swarnalatha Rangarajan and Sreejith Varma, Orient Blackswan, 2018.
• Srilata, K., and Swarnalatha Rangarajan. Lifescapes: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers from Tamil Nadu. Women Unlimited, 2019.
• The Routledge Handbook of Ecocriticism and Environmental Communication. Edited by Scott Slovic, Swarnalatha Rangarajan, and Vidya Sarveswaran, Routledge, 2020.
• A Handbook of Medical-Environmental Humanities: Toward a Convergence of the Medical Humanities and the Environmental Humanities. Edited by Scott Slovic, Swarnalatha Rangarajan, and Vidya Sarveswaran, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
• Desertscapes in the Global South and Beyond: Anthropocene Naturecultures. Edited by Sushila Shekhawat, Swarnalatha Rangarajan, and Rayson K. Alex, Routledge, 2023.
• The Life-Giver. Translated by Swarnalatha Rangarajan and Sreejith Varma, Orient Blackswan, 2026.

• Review of Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective by Marti Kheel. Published in ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies In Literature and Environment, University of Nevada) Vol.16: 4 (2009): 880-881.
• “Of Poems Composed in Octopus Ink.” Review of “Writing Octopus” in Kavya Bharati No (25): 2013, 224-226.

• Published the article “Ecological Dimensions of the Ramayana: A Conversation with Paula Richman” in The Trumpeter, Vol. 25, No. 1 (2009). Available at: https://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/1150
• Featured in the interview “Listening to Earth Stories: An Interview with Swarnalatha Rangarajan” by K. Sufina in The Goose, Vol. 16, No. 2 (2018). Available at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol16/iss2/47/

• Guest Editor – The Trumpeter (Athabasca University Press, Canada), editing two special issues focused on Indian ecosophy (Nos. 25.1 & 25.2).
• Founder and Editor – The Indian Journal of Ecocriticism (IJE), a peer-reviewed international journal of OSLE-India (now Tinai, ASLE-US partner), editing three issues (2009, 2010, 2011).
• Commissioning Editor – Routledge Studies in World Literatures and the Environment series.
• Editorial Board Member – ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (Oxford University Press / ASLE).
• Editorial Board Member – Scholastic International Research Journal of Language and Literature.
• Editorial Board Member – Ravenshaw Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies.
• Advisory Board Member – LEAF (Loyola College’s international, double-blind peer-reviewed multidisciplinary research journal).
• Advisory Board Member – International Studies in Ecology and Culture (ISEC).

• Short story titled “Through the Eye of the Needle” published in 21 under 40: New Stories for a New Generation, edited by Anita Roy, Zubaan Books, 2007.
• Short fiction titled “The Flowing Mirror” published in South Asian Review, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2007.
• Short fiction titled “Hiranmayi” published in Penguin First Proof, 2009.
• Short fiction titled “Speaking in Many Tongues” published in Chicken Soup for the Indian Spiritual Soul, Westland, 2009.
• Anthology titled Katha Book of E-poetry co-edited with K. Srilata and Sudeep Sen, 2010.
• Short fiction titled “Sita’s Hypothesis” published in Asia Writes, July 15, 2011.
• Short fiction titled “Koan” published in India Currents, February 2012.
• Short fiction titled “In the Forests of Himmapan” published in New Asian Writing, May 2012.
• Short fiction titled “Green Burial” published in ASLE India Newsletter, June 2013.
• Poem titled “Forgetting to Exhale” published in Muse India, Issue 55, May–June 2014.
• Novel titled Final Instructions published by Authorspress (India) and WordTree (USA), 2015.
• Short fictions titled “Once Upon a Time in the City”, “The In-betweenness of All Things”, and “Across the Street” published in All the Worlds Between, edited by K. Srilata and Fiona Bolger, Yoda Press, 2017.
• Short story titled “In God’s Own Country” published in Kitaab, 2022.
• Poetry collection titled The Path Set by Trees published by BookLeaf Publishing, 2022.

M.A Project Guidance

• 2012 – Aparna Jain | Research Area: American Literature and Ecocriticism
• 2013 – Prakruti Ramesh | Research Area: Ecocriticism
• 2014 – Baasma Parvi | Research Area: Ecocriticism
• 2014 – Siddharth Srikant | Research Area: Narratology and Ethics of Reading
• 2015 – Evelyn Tanza Anthony | Research Area: Ecocriticism
• 2015 – Vanya Rachel | Research Area: Ecocriticism
• 2016 – J. Bhargavi | Research Area: Ecofeminism
• 2018 – Vineeta Minz | Research Area: Ecotheology
• 2019 – Thasneem P | Research Area: Environmental Justice
• 2021 – Irene Sam | Research Area: Ecofeminism
• 2023 – Arpan Dutta | Research Area: Ecocriticism
• 2023 – Uday Reddy | Research Area: Ecofeminism
• 2024 – Abhiram Pavithran | Research Area: Blue Humanities
• 2025 – Amirtha Varshini | Research Area: Ecofeminism
• 2025 – Hiba Fathima | Research Area: Environmental Justice
• 2025 – Riya Sajan | Research Area: Critical Animal Studies

Ongoing Research

• 2026 – Malavika S.J. | Research Area: Anthropocene Art
• Ongoing – Anushka Navetia | Research Area: Anthropocene Narratives
• Ongoing – Devamritha Sathyan | Research Area: Posthumanism

Ph.D. Guidance

Awarded Degrees

• Vidya Sarveswaran (2011) – Research Area: Ecocriticism | Thesis Title: The Integrated Mosaic: An Ecocritical Study of the Writings of Terry Tempest Williams
• Anu Asokan (2015) – Research Area: Ecocriticism | Thesis Title: Environmentalism of the Poor: An Ecocritical Analysis of the Works of Mahasweta Devi
• Sreejith Varma (2018) – Research Area: Ecocriticism | Thesis Title: Environmentalism from Down Under: An Ecocritical Reading of Contemporary Environmental Justice Narratives from Kerala
• Anchitha Krishna (2024) – Research Area: Ecocriticism | Thesis Title: Making Sense of the Trouble: Narrating the Toxicscapes of the Anthropocene
• Sanchar Sarkar (2024) – Research Area: Ecocriticism | Thesis Title: The Eco-speculative Turn: Planet Earth and Climate Change in Contemporary American Science Fiction
• Sadhna Swayamsiddha (2025) – Research Area: Ecocriticism | Thesis Title: Ecologies of the Heart: Trauma, Kinship and Hope in Indigenous Narratives
• Varna Venugopal (2025) – Research Area: Ecocriticism | Thesis Title: Vegetal Encounters: Plant Lives, Phytocriticism, and the Indian Imagination

Ongoing Research

• Anjali B. – Research Area: Ecocriticism
• Ashwini Hegde – Research Area: Ecocriticism
• Shalini Pathayad – Research Area: Ecocriticism

• Invited Speaker: “Writing the Anthropocene: Engendering Ecological Consciousness in English and Telugu Literatures.” An International Ecocriticism Conference to be held in Adikavi Nannaya University, 18-20th February, 2019.
• Plenary Speaker: 10th Malaysia International Conference on Languages, Literatures and Cultures held in Malaysia from 14/08/2018 to 16/08/2018
• Invited Speaker and Resource Person: Inaugural conference on Literature and Environment in Bangladesh organized by the Edward Kennedy Centre held in the University of Dhaka in August 2015.
• Key Speaker. The Seetha Udupa Endowment Lecture, Ethiraj College, on “The Eco- Ontological Literary Impulse,” 8 February 2015.
• Invited Speaker. “Theory after Theory: Uses, Crises and New Directions” – A workshop organized by Forum on Contemporary Theory, Baroda and Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras, 26-28 September, 2014.
• Invited Speaker and Resource Person: National Conference on “Rethinking Nature: The Relevance of Contemporary Green Studies” organized by the Department of English, Ravenshaw University(12-13 January 2013)
• Plenary Speaker: International Conference –Cum-Workshop on Cross-Cultural Communication: India and the US. Organised by the Adikavi Nannaya University and US Consulate General Hyderabad (13th-15th February 2012).
• Invited Speaker: Conference on Unfolding Indigenous Knowledge Systems – Arts, Humanities and the Social Sciences held at the Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, Chennai during August 23-24, 2012. Invited Speaker. National Conference on Eco- economic and Ecocritical Issues held at St. Joseph’s College, Trichy, 5-6 March 2010.
• Plenary Speaker: Fifth Tamkang International Conference on Ecocriticism held in Tamkang University, Taiwan during December 16-18, 2010 Invited Speaker: Translation Workshop at the Library of Tibetan Works
• and Archives (The Govt. of Tibet in Exile at Dharamsala) on 21st July 2007.
• Invited Speaker. Workshop on Research Methodology conducted by Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, Chennai, 17th November, 2012. Invited Speaker: National Seminar on Solidarity amidst Cultural Diversity in World Literature conducted by the Research Department of English, Nirmala College for Women and Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies to be held on 12th and 13th March 2012.
• Invited Speaker: Workshop on Research Methodology conducted by Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, Chennai, 14th-16th November 2011
• Invited Speaker: National Conference on Eco-Economic and Ecocritical issues, St.Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli on 5th and 6th March 2010

• “Nature as Sutra: Eco-dharma in Gary Snyder’s Mountains and Rivers Without End.”  At the 7^th SSEASR International Conference in Vitenam, July 9-12, 2017.
• “Our dungy earth alike feeds beast and man. The Excremental Topography of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.” At the 7th Annual International Conference on Literature, Athens Institute for Education and Research, 9-14 June 2014, Athens, Greece
• “Ecocriticism of the Global South” at The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, Cambridge University, November 2013.
• “Fissured Lands within Ecocritical Frameworks” at the International Conference on Expanding Horizons in English Language and Literary Studies (ELLS2011) held on October 18-20, 2011 by the Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
• “The Ecological Implication of Bhakti poetry.”at the Inter University Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences, IIAS, Shimla, 14th July 2011.
• “The Mandalic Consciousness” at the 2009 Parliament of World’s Religions held at Melbourne during 3-9 December 2009.
• “Ecofeminist Retellings of the Ramayana” at the National Conference on “Natural Resources: A Multi-religious Approach” at the Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, 14-16 October 2009.
• “ Srichakra as Cosmogram” at the III International Conference of Organisation for Studies in Literature and Environment- India, January 4- 5th, 2008 at St.Ann’s College for Women, Hyderabad.
• “MadhuVidya: The Holistic Vision of Bhrahadaranyaka Upanishad” at the II International Conference of Organisation for Studies in Literature and Environment-India at Acharya Institute of Management and Sciences, Bangalore on June 8 and 9, 2007.
• “The Buddhist ecopoetics of Gary Snyder” presented at the MELUS- MELOW International Conference, “Literature in Times of Violence” held at the Department of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 22-24 March, 2007.
• 10.“Becoming the Transparent Eyeball…” in the International Conference on Ecology and Culture: Interdisciplinary Approaches held at Loyola College, on September 18 and 19, 2006.
• “An Ecocritical Approach to Perumal Murugan’s Seasons of the Palm.” in the International ASLE-India conference on “Nature and Human Nature: Land, Landscape and Cultural Constructions of the Environment”, Pondicherry University, 21-23 September 2006.
• Paper titled “An Ecocritical reading of J.M.Coetzee’s Disgrace” presented in the III World Conference and XI All India English Teachers’ Annual Conference on “Literature and Environment” held at Madras Christian College on 20th and 21st December.

Invited Lectures and Resource-Person Engagements

Training and Outreach

• “POSH and Gender Sensitisation” — Delivered a series of lectures under the Malaviya Mission programme conducted by IIT Madras for government employees across various institutions, March 2025–March 2026.

Endowment Lectures

• Saranathan Endowment Lecture, National College, Trichy, March 2016.
• Seetha Udupa Endowment Lecture, “The Eco-Ontological Literary Impulse,” Ethiraj College, 8 February 2015.

Special Lectures and Talks

• “Postmodernism and Ecology,” Sathya Nilayam, Loyola College, 4 December 2014.
• “Ecofeminism,” Sathya Nilayam, Loyola College, 1 October 2014.
• “Literature and the Environment,” Bharathi Women’s College, August 2012.
• “The Navarasas in Literature,” Reflections talk, IIT Madras, May 2007.

Conferences and Seminars Organised

• “After Globalisation” — Co-coordinated a national seminar with departmental colleagues at IIT Madras, December 2006.

• Served on the HSEE exam committee (paper setting and correction) for four years
• Served on the Institute’s Disciplinary Committee
• Served as co-coordinator (examinations-in-charge) for three consecutive years
• Served as the Department’s Library in-charge
• Served on the Institute’s Time-table committee
• Served as co-coordinator for the Zero level English course
• Served as co-coordinator of the MA Project Review Committee for two years
• Served on various other departmental scrutiny committees, including the Ph.D. Interview Committee, Faculty Recruitment Departmental Screening Committee, and Summer Internship Committee
• Served as Chairperson of the Internal Complaints Committee at IIT Madras (2021–2024)
•  Sectional Observer (Dean’s Representative) for the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences & Department of Management Studies
• Chairperson of the Ad-hoc Committee

Academic Governance and Advisory Roles

• Served as Ph.D. Examiner: Conducted the viva voce examination for candidates across multiple institutions:
• • IIT Guwahati (2012)

• • VIT Vellore (2013)

• • University of Malaya (2016)

• • University of Calicut (2016)

• • BITS Pilani (2016)

• • University of Madras (2017)

• • University of Mumbai (2018)

• • NIT Trichy (2023)

• • Universiti Putra Malaysia (2025)

• • IIT Jodhpur (2025)

• • IIT Kanpur (2026)

• • SRM University (2026)

• Served as Board & Committee Member:
• • Member, Syllabus Sub-Committee, Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, Anna University

• • Member, Board of Studies, School of Humanities, Tamil Nadu Open University

• • Senate Member, IIT Palakkad

• • Senate Member, VNIT Nagpur

• • Senate Member, University of Madras

Inclusions in Textbooks, Study Materials, and Research

• 2019: The essay on “Swampspeak” was included in Nature Anthem: Textbook of Environmental Studies (prescribed for the core course ‘Environmental Studies and Human Rights’ in the B.A. Programme at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam).
• 2019: The co-authored essay (with Sreejith Varma), “The Plachimada Struggle: A David and Goliath Story,” was included in Nature Anthem: Textbook of Environmental Studies (prescribed for the core course ‘Environmental Studies and Human Rights’ in the B.A. Programme at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam).
• 2020: The novel Final Instructions was analyzed in K. Sufina’s Ph.D. thesis, “Sense of Place, Environmental and Ecological Justice: An Ecocritical Analysis of Select Indian Novels,” at VIT.
• The essay “Ecocriticism: An Introduction” (or excerpt from Ecocriticism: Big Ideas and Practical Strategies) was included in the English Literature textbook The Magic Casement for B.A. students at Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati.