Chapter 5: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Literature and Language

The Need for Interdisciplinarity        
NEP stresses interconnected learning. English studies should intersect with other disciplines to provide holistic perspectives.

The National Education Policy (NEP) emphasizes interdisciplinarity as a central principle of higher education. English studies, traditionally confined to literature, grammar, and linguistics, are now encouraged to intersect with other disciplines such as history, sociology, psychology, political science, digital humanities, and environmental studies. This interconnected approach allows students to see how literature and language are not isolated fields but living forces shaped by and shaping society, culture, technology, and philosophy.

For example, studying George Orwell’s 1984 through the lens of political science provides insights into authoritarianism and surveillance, while approaching the same text with psychology highlights the effects of propaganda on individual thought. Similarly, combining English with environmental studies enables learners to explore the emerging field of ecocriticism, where literature is analysed for its representation of nature, sustainability, and ecological awareness.

Example
A classroom discussion of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things can integrate:

·        History: The caste system and Kerala’s socio-political landscape.

·        Sociology: Family dynamics and social marginalization.

·        Gender Studies: Representation of women and their struggles.

·        Linguistics: The use of code-switching between Malayalam and English.

This holistic approach enriches understanding, promotes critical thinking, and prepares students for real-world problem-solving where boundaries between disciplines are blurred.

Table: Interdisciplinarity in English Studies

Discipline Linked with English Studies

Focus Area on Interdisciplinary Learning

Example/Case Study

History

Contextualizing literary works in historical events

Study of Partition literature (Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh)

Sociology

Understanding social structures and inequalities

Dalit literature and its reflection on caste dynamics

Psychology

Exploring human behaviour, memory, and identity in texts

Freud’s psychoanalysis applied to Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Political Science

Examining power, governance, and ideologies

Orwell’s Animal Farm as an allegory of totalitarianism

Environmental Studies (Ecocriticism)

Analysing human-nature relationships in literature

Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide

Digital Humanities

Using technology for textual analysis, archiving, and visualization

Computational text analysis of Victorian novels

Gender Studies

Investigating representations of gender roles

Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own