Finding Place, Making Home: Narratives of Crisis and Agency Amongst Resettled Ecological Refugees on Sagar Island in the Indian Sundarbans

The Anthropocene has intensified the ecological fragility of the vulnerable islands of the Sundarbans region in the Bay of Bengal. The deltaic zone is impacted by the constantly shifting boundaries of downward islands due to recurrent geomorphological processes and fluvial activities. This study centres on Sagar Island, the largest inhabited island in the estuarine region of the Southern Sundarbans in India. Characterised by the recurrent mutation of riverine geographies, its inconsistent terrains are at the ‘mercy’ of surrounding rivers. As everyday life on the island is shaped by rapid erosion and planetary changes, displaced communities are faced with the urgency to relocate to relatively safer resettlement zones, namely colonies. The paper compiles data from cartographic resources and revenue records with ethnographic findings from ongoing fieldwork to understand the social implications of the transformation of inhabitants into ecological refugees. It argues that the process of relocating islanders into downstream colonies is much more than a simple shift in geographical location. Instead, it entails deep socio-economic and cultural dislocations, leading to new forms of precarities. It shows how the aggravation of environmental risks in the Anthropocene reframes the lived experiences of inhabitants in a constantly changing deltaic landscape. The paper traces the diverse experiences of agency and relational entanglements on the island by analysing the intersections between environmental crises, displacement and place-making. Concluding how a sense of home in a relocated place is crafted amidst the spiralling tendencies of land loss and anticipation of safety, the paper contributes to a broader discussion on climate-induced migration and adaptation strategies in deltaic regions.