Organisation for Studies in Literature and Environment-India (OSLE-India) is a forum for promoting ecocriticism, especially in India and also in other Asian countries. Today ‘ecocriticism’ has come to mean not only ‘the application of ecology and ecological principles to the study of literature’, but also the theoretical approach to the interrelational web of natural, cultural and supernatural phenomena.

Objectives

1. To promote eocriticism at the cognitive, emotional and praxiological levels

2. To provide a platform for academic interaction between scholars from literature and other disciplines, especially between the humanities and sciences

3. To encourage creative engagement with nature and ecology

4. To address the pedagogical aspects of ecocriticism and cultural studies from ecological perspectives

5. To give special attention to the contextual and relevant ecological issues

Strategies

1.  Conducting conferences, workshops

2. Organising special lectures on relevant themes                                                          

3. Offering consultancy, guidance and resources especially to the researchers in the field

4. Publishing a Newsletter of OSLE-India

5. Bringing out other relevant publications

History

OSLE-India owes its origin to a postgraduate ecocritical course (now called, ‘ecoliterature’), which the Department of English, Madras Christian College, Chennai, has been offering for the past twenty years. With a view to strengthening this course, the department conducted an international conference on ecocriticism in collaboration with the Indian Association for Studies in Contemporary Literature (IASCL), and the World Association for Studies in Literatures in English (WASLE) on the 20^th and 21^st of December, 2004, in Chennai. This conference clearly showed the growing interest and involvement in ecocriticism in the Indian academy. In order to bring these scholars together, an informal forum called ASLE India was formed in January 2005, and it has been meeting in Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Madurai, and Tiruchirappalli) for the past two years. So far this forum has brought out two Newsletters and motivated two colleges in Tamil Nadu – Loyola College, Chennai, and Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirappalli -- to introduce courses in ecocriticism. From its inception, the Chennai-based forum has been the official Indian affiliate of the international body called ‘Association for Studies in Literature and Environment’ (ASLE). On the 27^th of May, 2006, ASLE India became a registered body and entered a new phase of life. Renamed OSLE-India, it continues to be the parent ecocriticism forum in India and also the Indian affiliate of ASLE.