Slow Violence – Displacement Leading To Nostalgic Anxiety And Solastalgic Distress: An Analysis Of Thinner Than Skin By Uzma Aslam Khan

Abstract

This research, in the domain of psychological ecocriticism, underscores the need of environmental sustainability as depicted in Thinner than Skin (2012) by Uzma Aslam Khan. The theoretical framework of this qualitative research has been formulated by taking the tenets from Rob Nixon’s Slow violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011) to corroborate that slow violence with its attritional and incremental features results in displacements. The textual exegesis of the novel accentuates that forced imposition of the official landscape on the vernacular landscape of the people of Pakistan turns the inhabitants into uninhabitants; thus, creating refugees out of place as well as refugees in place. The research elucidates the disruption of once sustainable lifestyles of the herders and the inhabitants of Kaghan valley. By addressing these issues of ecological exploitation and human oppression, the research aims to contribute towards redressing inequities so as to reinstate environmental sustainability.