Discontents of the Anthropocene: Developmentalism, the Wasteocene, and decoloniality in Sarah Joseph’s Gift in Green

Sarah Joseph’s Gift in Green highlights the ecological and cultural changes occurring in the Pulaya community of Kerala, India, due to capitalist exploitation and extensive commodification of natural resources. The novel’s depictions of ecological devastation juxtaposed with pre-industrial pastoral beauty underscore the discontents of anthropocentrism, namely, the waste and disposability that contemporary capitalism perpetuates. In this context, this article contends that Joseph’s novel can be examined as a representation of Marco Armiero’s concept of the “Wastocene” and wasting relationships, both inherent products of contemporary capitalism. It also argues Gift in Green can be identified as a guerrilla narrative through exposing the pitfalls of anthropocentric developmentalism and highlighting stories of resistance from dispossessed, hegemonized Indigenous populations of the Global South. In so doing, this novel aligns with decolonial ecological perspectives and praxis that seek to represent Indigenous communities and the effectiveness of their experiential and sustainable world view.