Lab Activity on Gun Island: A Flipped Learning and ICT-Based Research Blog

This Flipped Learning activity was assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad Sir to enhance our understanding of Gun Island through ICT-based research, critical thinking and AI-assisted academic learning practices. 

     

Step 1: Uploading ResearchGate Video Resources to NotebookLM

As part of the flipped learning activity, I first collected all the video resources provided under the “ResearchGate Flipped Learning Activity.” These videos were uploaded into NotebookLM and used as primary learning sources. This step created a digital knowledge base that allowed the AI tool to analyse, organise and summarise complex theoretical explanations related to Gun Island.

This process helped convert scattered video content into a structured digital research environment.

Step 2: Generation of Infographic and Slide Deck

From the uploaded resources, I selected specific videos that addressed major themes of Gun Island and used NotebookLM to generate an infographic and slide deck. These visual tools presented difficult theoretical concepts such as climate change, migration, myth, the uncanny and environmental displacement in a simplified and organised manner.

Climate Change and The Great Derangement: An Ecological Reading of Gun Island

Infographic for this video :

 

Slide Deck :

 

I uploaded this video to NotebookLM and generated an infographic and slide deck based on its content.

The visuals explained key ideas such as the crisis of imagination in realist fiction, the environmental uncanny, the use of myth in Gun Island, colonial ecological damage, and the concept of multispecies justice.

Learning Outcome:

Before this activity, ideas such as “environmental uncanny,” “managed retreat,” and “planetary storytelling” were difficult for me to grasp only through textual explanation. However, the infographic and slide deck presented these abstract ideas in a visually organised manner, which made them easier to understand, remember, and connect with the narrative of Gun Island.

This step helped me realise that Gun Island is not just a migration novel but a climate-fiction narrative that challenges literary traditions and redefines how stories can respond to ecological crisis.

The Etymological Mystery of the Title Gun Island

Infographic for this video : 

Slide Deck :

 

 I selected the video “The Etymological Mystery of the Title Gun Island.”

This video explores how the title Gun Island does not literally refer to weapons but traces a linguistic and historical journey of words across cultures and centuries.

I uploaded this video into NotebookLM and generated an infographic and slide deck that visually mapped:

Learning Outcome

Before this activity, I read the title Gun Island only symbolically. The infographic and slide deck revealed the etymological journey of the word “Gun” across languages and showed that Gun Island actually means “Venice Island.” They clarified that the Bonduki Saudagar is not an arms dealer but a merchant linked to Venice, and that bhuta connects “ghost” with “past,” showing how history continues to haunt the present.

This helped me understand that in Gun Island, language itself carries hidden histories of migration, climate anxiety and ecological memory.

Migration, Human Trafficking and the Global Refugee Crisis in Gun Island

Infographic for this video :

Slide Deck :

I selected the video “Migration, Human Trafficking and the Global Refugee Crisis in Gun Island.”

This video explains why characters in Gun Island migrate and how ecological collapse, violence, poverty and aspiration together shape global displacement.

I uploaded this video into NotebookLM and generated an infographic and slide deck that visually mapped.

Learning Outcome

The visuals helped me understand that migration in Gun Island is not a single issue but a layered process involving climate crisis, violence, economic desperation and global inequality. The infographic clarified how human trafficking works and how displacement continues from colonial times to the present.

This step made me see Gun Island as a warning about today’s global refugee crisis rather than only a fictional migration story.

3. Understanding Complex Video Resources through AI-Generated Micro-Video

From the selected flipped learning resources, I found the video dealing with myth, the uncanny and non-human agency in Gun Island comparatively difficult to follow because of its dense theoretical language and abstract concepts.

     

To address this difficulty, I generated a short AI-based micro-video using NotebookLM titled “Decoding Myths for a Modern World.” This micro-video was created from the same source material but presented in simplified visual and narrative form.

I then compared my understanding of the topic before and after watching the AI-generated video.

AI-Generated Micro-Video

       

Before the micro-video:

The concepts of myth, possession, bhuta, and environmental uncanny appeared abstract and confusing. I could identify the terms but could not clearly explain their connection with climate change and migration in the novel.

After the micro-video:

The AI-generated micro-video clarified how myth functions as a narrative language to express climate anxiety, colonial memory and multispecies justice in Gun Island. It simplified the meaning of possession as awakening, explained bhuta as the past haunting the present, and showed how the “uncanny” reflects ecological trauma.

Learning Outcome

This comparison proved that the AI-generated micro-video effectively improved my comprehension of a difficult theoretical resource. It transformed abstract academic language into visual narrative logic, making the concepts clearer, more memorable and easier to apply in textual analysis.

Thus, this step validated the usefulness of AI micro-videos as supportive academic learning tools.

Research Activity Using NotebookLM

Topic Selected:

Climate Change as a Narrative Force in Gun Island: A Study of Environmental Apocalypse and Human Displacement

Step–1: Topic Selection & Source Collection

For the research activity, I selected the topic “Climate Change as a Narrative Force in Gun Island” focusing on environmental apocalypse and human displacement.

I conducted deep research through NotebookLM  and uploaded multiple research articles, reviews, theses, and academic lectures into NotebookLM to create a structured research notebook.

This notebook consisted of ecocritical studies, migration-based analyses, reviews, and theoretical writings related to climate fiction, environmental humanities, migration, and the Anthropocene.

 Source Evaluation through Prompt–Based Inquiry

Using the prompt strategies discussed in the video “Practical Skills for the Use of ICT in Research”, I applied structured prompts to NotebookLM to evaluate my research material.

🔍 Prompt 1 – Source Evaluation Table

NotebookLM generated a detailed table categorising each source based on:

• Publication year

• Author credentials

• Type of source (secondary analysis / review / opinion piece)

Source Title	Publication Date	Author Credentials	Source Type
"Gun Island" and "The Great Derangement" by Amitav Ghosh: Summary & Analysis	15 April 2021	Forrest Brown: Climate writer; creator of Stories for Earth; writing featured in Facing South and Long Now Foundation.	Secondary Analysis
A Powerful Translingual Cli-Fi Story — A Review of "Gun Island" by Amitav Ghosh	8 October 2021	Lisa Schantl: Multilingual Austrian writer; editor/founder for Tint Journal.	Opinion Piece (Review)
Analysing The Environmental Concerns And Human Interactions In Amitav Ghosh's The Gun Island	2025	Dr. Asmathunisa Begum, Dr. Kambhampati Rajesh, Dr. M. Suchitra, Rajeswari Surisetty: Academic faculty in English departments at various Indian universities.	Secondary Analysis (Ecocritical)
DoE-MKBU YouTube Transcripts (Multiple Episodes)	Undated (Post-2019)	Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University (DoE-MKBU): Academic department providing university-level lectures.	Secondary Analysis (Educational)
Climate Change as a Narrative Force in Gun Island: A Study of Environmental Apocalypse and Human Displacement	Undated (Contemporary)	Scholarly contributor: Not specified in the excerpt, but references peer-reviewed journals like Taylor & Francis.	Secondary Analysis
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN AMITAV GHOSH'S GUN ISLAND	June 2019	Dr. A. Murugesan (Assistant Professor) and S. Vanitha (Research Scholar): English department, Chikkanna Government Arts College.	Secondary Analysis
Exploring Porous Borders in Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide and Gun Island	30 November 2025	Sabine Lauret-Taft: Associate Professor at Université Marie & Louis Pasteur; specialist in Southeast-Asian fiction and environmental issues.	Secondary Analysis (Ecocritical)
Gun Island Summary and Study Guide	2026	SuperSummary Literary Experts: Educational content creators.	Secondary Analysis
Analysing Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island as a Climate Fiction: Transgressing 'Borders'	30 October 2024	Iftakhar Ahmed: Department of English, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University.	Secondary Analysis (Textual Analysis)
Precarity, Catastrophe and the Anthropocene: Reading Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island	30 June 2025	Dr. Kankana Bhowmick: Independent researcher; PhD from Bodoland University; former school and college faculty member.	Secondary Analysis
ROLE OF LITERATURE IN ADDRESSING THE CLIMATE CRISIS IN AMITAV GHOSH NOVEL THE GUN ISLAND	January-June 2024	Astha Khandelwal (Research Scholar) and Dr. Deepika Dhand (Supervisor): Mats University English department.	Secondary Analysis
Reclaiming the Unreal: Myth, Non-Human Agency, and Literary Imagination in Amitav Ghosh’s Climate Fiction	15 August 2025	Zakiyah Tasnim: Faculty, Department of English, University of Chittagong.	Secondary Analysis
Resilience and Survival in the Sundarbans as Depicted in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island	July 2025	Deepa Nair: Scholar published in Quest Journals (Research in Humanities and Social Science).	Secondary Analysis
Review of “Gun Island” by Amitav Ghosh (3 Quarks Daily)	23 September 2019	Ruchira Paul: Contributor to 3 Quarks Daily, a cross-disciplinary intellectual portal.	Opinion Piece (Review)
The Crisis of Climate and Immigration in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island	2021	Trina Bose (Doctoral Scholar) and Amrita Satapathy (Assistant Professor): IIT Bhubaneswar.	Secondary Analysis (Research Article)
The Cry of a Delta: A Postcolonial Eco-Critical Study of Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island	2025	Prateek Upreti (Research Scholar) and Dr. Sakshi Semwal (Assistant Professor): DIT University.	Secondary Analysis
The Earth System Reanimated: The “Environmental Uncanny” in Amitav Ghosh’s Novel “Gun Island”	19 August 2024	Thomas Schwarz: Author featured on the WritingtheAnthropocene academic blog.	Secondary Analysis
The Synergy of History and Ecology in Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island	Undated (Contemporary)	Kalaivani D G: Assistant Professor, Department of English, Vivekanandha College of Engineering for Women.	Secondary Analysis

This helped me identify which sources were academically reliable and suitable for research use.

Step–3: Citation Network Analysis

Prompt 2-Which of these sources are most frequently cited or referenced by other sources in this notebook?

NotebookLM analysed the internal citation network and identified:

• The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh

• Bose & Satapathy’s study on climate-induced migration

• Ahmed’s climate fiction framework

• The study titled Climate Change as a Narrative Force in Gun Island

as the most influential theoretical pillars of existing scholarship.

This step helped me understand which scholars shape the dominant critical discourse around Gun Island.

Step 4: Mapping Major Scholarly Perspectives

Prompt 3-Summarize the primary perspective of

the top five most substantial sources

Using the third prompt, I requested summaries of the most substantial scholarly viewpoints. NotebookLM revealed that scholars interpret Gun Island primarily as:

• A climate-fiction narrative

• A critique of capitalist globalisation

• A study of climate refugees and human trafficking

• A myth-based planetary narrative

• A challenge to Western realist literary traditions

This mapping enabled me to see how ecocriticism, postcolonial studies, migration studies and myth criticism converge in this novel.

Step 5: Locating Research Gaps

Prompt4-Identify 'Research Gap' for further research in this area

To locate areas for future research, I used:

Identify research gaps for further research in this area.

NotebookLM identified several clear gaps, including:

• Lack of empirical research on how climate fiction affects real-world environmental behaviour

• Absence of comparative myth-based ecological studies

• Need for digital-humanities climate-fiction corpora

• Gender-specific vulnerability in climate-induced migration

• Ethical implications of multispecies storytelling

This step helped me position my topic within emerging future research directions.

Step 6: Developing Research Framework

Prompt 5-Draft a Literature Review ending with hypotheses and research questions

pertaining to this research gap

Finally, I asked NotebookLM to draft a literature review ending with hypotheses and research questions.

The tool generated:

Literature Review

The Agency of Narrative in the Anthropocene: Gun Island and Climate Fiction

1. Crisis of Imagination and Limits of Realism

Amitav Ghosh, in The Great Derangement, argues that modern realist fiction fails to represent the unpredictable scale and non-human agency of climate change. Traditional realism treats nature as a passive background, thereby concealing ecological forces. Scholars note that Gun Island exposes this limitation by portraying the “environmental uncanny,” where storms, invasive species and ecological disruptions reveal nature as an active, responsive force shaped by human actions.

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2. Myth, Memory and Non-Human Agency

Critics view Gun Island as a narrative experiment that reclaims myth and the “unreal” to overcome this imaginative failure. By blending the Manasa Devi legend with contemporary climate events, Ghosh links colonial violence with present ecological collapse. Myth functions as cultural and environmental memory, foregrounding multispecies justice and granting agency to non-human beings such as animals, rivers and storms.

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3. Precarity, Migration and the Anthropocene

Scholarly studies situate Gun Island within debates on climate-induced migration and economic precarity. The destruction of the Sundarbans produces climate refugees who become vulnerable to human trafficking networks. Using the concept of homo sacer, critics show how neoliberal systems reduce refugees to “bare life,” exposing capitalism’s role in ecological collapse and human exploitation.

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4. Research Gap: Literature and Behavioural Change

Although Gun Island is widely recognised as an ecological warning that shapes awareness and empathy, existing scholarship remains largely theoretical. There is limited empirical research examining whether climate fiction influences real-world environmental attitudes, lifestyle choices and political engagement. This gap restricts our understanding of literature’s actual role in ecological transformation.

Hypotheses and Research Questions

Hypotheses

H1: Readers exposed to climate-fiction narratives employing the “environmental uncanny” will demonstrate significantly higher planetary ecological consciousness and lower climate-denialist tendencies than those exposed to conventional realist environmental reporting.

H2: Narratives foregrounding multispecies agency increase readers’ support for multispecies justice policies and biodiversity conservation measures more effectively than anthropocentric environmental discourses.

H3: The use of translingual elements and indigenous idioms in climate fiction enhances empathetic engagement with climate refugees, thereby reducing xenophobic attitudes and social distancing.

Research Questions

RQ1: To what extent does myth-based “re-enchantment” in climate fiction influence sustainable lifestyle choices and environmental activism compared to scientific informational discourse?

RQ2: How does the narrative technique of porous temporal and spatial boundaries affect readers’ cognitive grasp of Anthropocene-scale crises?

RQ3: Does the historical framing of contemporary ecological crises generate greater emotional detachment and reflective engagement conducive to collective environmental action?

Conceptual Metaphor

Climate fiction can be envisioned as a lighthouse in the Anthropocene—illuminating invisible dangers and offering narrative direction. While critical scholarship has examined the architectural design of this lighthouse (narrative form) and the brightness of its beam (themes and symbolism), little research has measured how many vessels have altered their routes because of its warning. The present study seeks to address this empirical blind spot.

 

Conclusion

This Flipped Learning and ICT-based Lab Activity deepened my understanding of Gun Island by transforming complex theories into clear, structured knowledge through NotebookLM. The use of infographics, slide decks and AI-generated micro-videos enhanced my comprehension of climate fiction, migration, myth and ecological crisis.

The research activity strengthened my academic skills in source evaluation, gap identification and hypothesis framing, enabling me to approach the novel as a serious climate-humanities research text rather than only a literary narrative.

References :

Barad, Dilip. "Gun Island." Dilip Barad's Blog, 28 Jan. 2022, https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2022/01/gun-island.html. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.

 DoE-MKBU. “Practical Skills for the Use of ICT in Research | NEP 2020 | Orientation and Sensitization Programme.” YouTube, 2 Jan. 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBQ1SOvAOgk.

This Flipped Learning activity was supported using NotebookLM for research and content generation and ChatGPT for academic structuring and language refinement.