As a Sustainability Summer Scholar in the School of Environment & Sustainability, Shobhita worked with Professor Furukawa to create a course syllabus for a class to be taught during the 2026-2027 academic year potentially titled “Ecocriticism in Japan.” Ecocriticism explores the different ways in which we portray or think about the environment and human beings’ relationship with nature in literature and culture. The goal was to find as much information as possible on the topic, sort through and organize all material that was available in the form of a comprehensive bibliography, and determine what content was most helpful for the class.

For the purpose of this research, Shobhita’s goal was to find out how this is portrayed specifically in Japanese literature. Throughout her research she questioned if there were important moments in time where ecocriticism became a tool for writers: the colonization of the Ainu, the World War 2 bombings, the Minamata disease, the 3/11 earthquake and subsequent triple disaster, as well as an effort to understand contemporary challenges that Japan faces and how it has been incorporated into literature.

Literature is often reflective of the thoughts and emotions of the society it is born in. Analysing the portrayal of human relationships with nature in literature, especially through specific moments in time, shows how this relationship is not static nor easy to define. On the one hand, there is an understanding of nature as a source of destruction and immense power while on the other, it is conquered and used for human purposes. While on one hand nature is pure and a source of healing, on the other it is contaminated and a source of sickness and death. Shobhita’s goal was to better understand these relationships and ideas as present in Japanese society.

Shobhita started out by reading through book recommendations provided by Professor Furukawa, while conducting a broad search on the internet to sift through articles, movies and other forms of literature. From there, she branched out and began working on her own annotated bibliography. In this process, she spent time analysing which texts are most suitable for the purpose of the research. This was very insightful as she learned how to think critically about the reasons why a certain text has a stronger argument than another for her thesis statement. Since this is a fairly under researched topic, she had difficulties finding explicit inferences to ecocriticism as a literary tool; however, it made it all the more interesting to make those inferences herself and observe the undercurrent of ecocritical thinking present in Japanese literature and media for centuries.

Shobhita ended the summer research with a comprehensive bibliography of resources, a list of resources complete with reasons as to why they should be included in a class, as well as the outline of a potential syllabus. This was a truly enlightening experience, as it taught her important research skills in the field of humanities, critical thinking skills, as well as how to read and write efficiently. Professor Furukawa’s guidance at every step of the way, as well as her support at the moments when Shobhita was unsure how to proceed, were an invaluable part of the process.