Environmental Displacement and Globalized Economies in Sea of Poppies

Abstract

Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies (2008) offers a potent defence of colonial globalisation through emphasising the environmental displacement resulting from imperial economic systems. The narrative shows globalised markets upset the balance of nature, farming jobs, and social structures in colonial India, all set against the backdrop of the opium trade in the nineteenth century. Ghosh links environmental exploitation with human displacement, demonstrating how forced poppy cultivation and maritime trade uproot peasants, indentured labourers, and marginalized communities. This paper defines the intersections of ecology, economy, and empire in Sea of Poppies, arguing that environmental degradation under colonial capitalism leads directly to cultural fragmentation and identity crisis. Through narrative polyphony and historical reconstruction, Ghosh exposes globalisation as an uneven and violent process that privileges imperial profit over environmental and human sustainability.