In this presentation i deal with migration and human trafficking in 'gun island' and also discuss about illegal migration in Bollywood movies.

1. Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Date: 1st April 2024
Sem 4। Batch 2022-24
Contemporary English Literature
Migration and Human Trafficking in
‘Gun Island’
Present on

2. Migration and Human
Trafficking in
‘Gun Island’
Prepared by
Riddhi Rathod
SMT. S.B. GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH.

3. ● Personal Information :-
Name Riddhi H. Rathod
Paper no. 207 - Contemporary Literature
Topic Migration and Human Trafficking in ‘Gun Island’
Roll no. 17
Enrollment no. 4069206420220025
E-mail I’D riddhirathod1213@gmail.com

4. 01
03
02
04
Introduction of Author
Novel and migration
What is Migration and Human
Trafficking?
Four types of Migration
● Table of contents

5. Amitav Ghosh, a pioneer of English literature in India, is born in Calcutta (Now Kolkata) in
the year 1956. Amitav Ghosh is raised and educated at the same time in as different locations
as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt, India and the United Kingdom.
Ghosh is the author of The Circle of Reason (his 1986 debut novel), The Shadow Lines (1998),
The Calcutta Chromosome (1995), The Glass Palace (2000), The Hungry Tide (2004), and Sea
of Poppies (2008), notable non-fiction writings are In an Antique Land (1992), Dancing in
Cambodia and at Large in Burma (1998), Countdown (1999), and The Imam and the Indian
(2002),His most-recent non-fiction book The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the
Unthinkable (2016) addresses why modern literature has failed to address issues of climate
change, and how radical transformation due to nature has become 'unthinkable'.
Amitav Ghosh holds four Lifetime Achievement awards and five honorary doctorates.
Jnanpith Award(2018), Sahitya Akademi Award(1989), Ananda Puraskar(1990), Dan David
Prize(2010), Padma Shri(2007). (Ghosh)
● Introduction of Author :-

6. ● Originally published: 6 June 2019
● Genres: Novel, Historical Fiction
● The novel also explores the dynamics of storytelling that links
the past and the present.
● About the novel :-
● Parallels Between Myths And Modern Events
● Themes :-
● Climate Change
● Migration - Human Trafficking
● Theme of Etymology

7. The novel focusing on two places.
● Venice
● Sundarban

8. What is Migration and Human Trafficking?
Human Trafficking - organized criminal activity in
which human beings are treated as possessions to be
controlled and exploited (as by being forced into
prostitution or involuntary labor) (Merriam - Webster)
1
Migration - In the global context, movement
of a person either across an international
border (international migration), or within a
state (internal migration) for more than One
year irrespective of the causes, voluntary or
involuntary, and the means , regular or
irregular, used to migrate. (Merriam -
Webster)

9. ● Novel and migration :-
Gun Island is portrays the issue of climate migration within the backdrop of narrative fiction (Kaur 114).
The events like storms in Sundarbans, fires in California, tornadoes and floods in Venice have been occurred
due to climate change. At the same time, Ghosh links the adventures of a seventeenth century Bengali
merchant travelling between the Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean to the struggles of present-day
migrants who are moving across the borders.
Gun Island explores different forms of migration, starting from people and entire communities being
uprooted from their native land to the drastic changes recently prevalent in the migratory patterns of
different species. Ghosh gives many instances of climate related catastrophes being inductors of such
migrations. He talks in detail about the cyclone Aila which hit the Sundarbans in 2009.
Aila's long-term consequences were even more devastating than those of
earlier cyclones. Hundreds of miles of embankment had been swept away and
the sea had invaded places where it had never entered before; vast tracts of
once fertile land had been swamped by salt water, rendering them uncultivable
for a generation, if not forever. The evacuations too had produced effects that
no one could have foretold. Having once been uprooted from their villages
many evacuees had decided not to return, knowing that their lives, always
hard, would be even more precarious now. Communities had been destroyed
and families dispersed... (Ghosh 48)

10. Except for the illegal migration from the Sundarbans, the reasons behind the illegal movements of
refugees from other developing countries are not overtly revealed in the text.
According to Kanai, “…every merchant who’s ever sailed out of Bengal has had to pass through the
Sundarbans - there’s no other way to reach the sea” (Ghosh, 2019, p. 8)
“the islands of the Sundarbans are constantly being swallowed up by the sea; they’re disappearing before
our eyes” (Ghosh, 2019, p. 18).
“sea level rise owing to global warming, anthropogenic drivers, and land subsidence eventually
affects the mangrove forest and vulnerable, coastal communities” (Ghosh et al., 2015, p. 161). One
sees in Gun Island, the resolute young people of the lands taking the bold decision of moving
abroad, albeit illegally, to earn money for an improved and stable life.
● Continue……
Rafi and Tipu use illegal migration channels to move to Italy (in the EU) is also no less influenced by the
access to technology and internet via smartphones which can feed images of a free and affluent life in the
Global North, and induce individuals to aspire for lifestyle migration. Ghosh implicates the pervasive
hand-held devices for inspiring individuals to migrate from the Global South. (Huda)

11. The text highlights that illegal immigrants become political refugees, social outcasts,
and homeless and nameless entities - the exploited resources. The sordid tale of illegal
migration is brought out poignantly yet starkly through two young characters - Tipu
and his friend Rafi. Tipu and Rafi, along with many other illegal migrants, fall victims
to smuggling which aims at “material gains from the illegal crossing of international
borders and there can be consent from the individual to be moved” (Yahya, 2020, p. 2).

12. ● Four types of Migration :-
Education
Economic Vision
Religion
Natural
Calamities

13. Educational migration :-
Palash migrated to Italy as a student. He said,"I came to Italy as a
student, you see, which sets me apart from most Bengali
migrants. Back in Bangladesh, my circumstances were
completely different from theirs. Most of them are from villages
and small towns, while my father is a banker, in Dhaka. My older
brother is a civil servant, quite high up. I studied at Dhaka
University and even have a degree in management. For some
years 1 worked as a manager in a multinational corporation. I
used to go to work in a car every day, wearing a suit and tie.”
Lubna khala - Because of the storm and death
of death of two relatives. ‘Shob gasé!’ she said.
‘Everything's gone now; the house, the people -
the water's taken it all.’
Natural Calamities
Religion issues
Bilal and Kabir - 'One day there was a fight. My uncle
and cousins attacked my father and me, so Kabir
came to our defence and knocked my uncle down.
After that it was like a riot. Kabir and I managed to
get away, but from then on, we had to be constantly
on the run.’
Tipu and rafi - We spent two weeks in Dhaka and then
the dalal put us on a minibus, along with a group of
other men. I was carrying only a backpack, and so was
Tipu. We had some clothes, a bit of food, and around
250 US dollars each, that's all.
Economic Vision

14. The movie portrays the human side of migration by
showing the hopes, dreams, fears, and emotions of the
migrants who embark on the donkey route. It also
depicts the cultural diversity and solidarity among the
migrants, who come from different backgrounds,
religions, and regions but share a common goal and fate.
The movie reflects on the dilemmas and challenges that
the migrants face in their quest for a better life, such as
the loss of identity, the separation from family, the
adaptation to a new culture, and the risk of death. It also
explores the moral and ethical questions that the
migrants have to confront, such as the legality,
legitimacy, and necessity of their actions. (Hirani)
● DUNKI MOVIE (2023)

15. Shiddat - 2021
(Deshmukh)
Namaste England - 2018
(Shah)

17. ● Ghosh, Amitav. "Biography." Amitav Ghosh's Personal Website,
https://amitavghosh.com/about/biography/.
● Merriam - Webster. “Human trafficking Definition & Meaning.”
Merriam-Webster, 18 March 2024,
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/human%20trafficking.
Accessed 31 March 2024.
● Kaur, Rajender. “Envisioning New Modes of Solidarity: Climate Change, Kinship,
and the Uncanny in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island.” Global South, vol. 16, no. 2,
Mar. 2023, pp. 114–34. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.2979/gbs.2023.a908605.
Accessed 15 Oct. 2023
● Yahya, A. M. (2020). Irregular migration or human trafficking? The realities of
cross-border population mobility in western Sudan. Sudan Brief. Retrieved from
https://www.cmi.no/publications/7174-irregular-migration-orhuman-trafficking
● Citation :-

18. ● BOSE, Trina, and Amitav Ghosh. “The Crisis of Climate and Immigration in Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island.”
DergiPark, 15 July 2021, https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1546620. Accessed 1 April
2024.
● Huda, Rooh. “Categories of International Migration in Select Works of Amitav Ghosh.” Literary Oracle
Journal, 8 January 2024,
https://literaryoracle.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/General-Section-3.pdf. Accessed 1 April 2024.
● Dawson, Ashley. “Cargo Culture: Literature in an Age of Mass Displacement.” Women’s Studies
Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 1/2, 2010, pp. 178–93. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25679835. Accessed 1
Apr. 2024.
● Deshmukh, Kunal, director. Shiddat. T-Series Films Maddock Originals, 2021.
● Shah, Vipul Amrutlal, director. Pen India Limited Namastey Production Ltd. Reliance Entertainment
Blockbuster Movie Entertainers, 2018.
● Hirani, Rajkumar, director. Dunki. Jio Studios, Red Chillies Entertainment and
Rajkumar Hirani Films, 2023.