Buddha in a Traffic Jam: A Postcolonial Reading of Environment, Development and Marginalization

Introduction

Postcolonial studies has traditionally focused on colonialism, imperialism, power, exploitation, resistance, and the experiences of marginalized people. However, in the contemporary world, these concerns are increasingly connected with environmental crisis. Dilip Barad’s article, “Postcolonial Studies in the Anthropocene: Bridging Perspectives for a Sustainable Future,” explores this important relationship between postcolonialism, environmentalism, and global capitalism. Published in the Journal of Higher Education and Research Society in 2022, the article argues that postcolonial studies must expand its field by engaging with environmental degradation, indigenous communities, global capitalism, and continuing forms of dispossession.

This argument can be productively connected with Vivek Agnihotri’s Buddha in a Traffic Jam (2016). The film is mainly a political and social drama, but its representation of Bastar, tribal communities, land, forests, poverty, development, and globalization creates an important space for a postcolonial environmental reading. The film shows that environmental questions are not only about nature; they are also about who controls land, who benefits from development, and who bears its social cost.

The Anthropocene and the Environmental Crisis

The term Anthropocene refers to an age in which human activity has become a major force affecting the Earth’s systems. Industrialization, extraction of natural resources, pollution, deforestation, and fossil-fuel-based development have changed the relationship between human beings and the natural environment. Dipesh Chakrabarty argues that climate change forces us to reconsider conventional ideas of history because human beings now function collectively as a geological force.

Chakrabarty further explains that climate change creates a new challenge for postcolonial thought because humans must be understood simultaneously through historical differences and as one species living on a shared planet. Thus, the Anthropocene requires us to think about both environmental crisis and social inequality.

Colonialism and Environmental Exploitation

Barad explains that colonialism and ecological destruction are historically connected. Drawing on Vandana Shiva, he shows how colonial and capitalist systems contributed to the destruction of ecological diversity and weakened local ways of living that were closely connected with the environment.

This relationship is also important in postcolonial ecocriticism. Graham Huggan argues that postcolonial criticism and ecocriticism need to be brought into conversation because environmental questions cannot be separated from histories of colonialism and unequal power. Rob Nixon similarly emphasizes the importance of historical and political contexts in environmental thinking, especially when marginalized communities and formerly colonized regions are concerned.

Therefore, environmental destruction should not be understood as a purely natural problem. It is often connected with economic interests, political authority, colonial histories, and unequal control over resources.

Why Marginalized Communities Suffer More

Formerly colonized and marginalized communities often experience environmental problems more intensely because their lives are closely connected with land, forests, water, and other natural resources. When these resources are controlled by governments, corporations, or powerful institutions, local communities can lose both their livelihoods and their cultural connection with the environment.

Barad calls attention to internal colonialism, a condition in which colonial patterns of dispossession continue inside formally independent countries. Indigenous communities may still face the loss of ancestral lands because of resource extraction and development projects.

This idea is highly relevant to Buddha in a Traffic Jam. Raj Raj Mukhopadhyay’s study of the film argues that the tribal communities represented in the film face serious oppression through deprivation of land and forests in the context of globalization and industrial development.

Reading Buddha in a Traffic Jam through Postcolonial Theory

Buddha in a Traffic Jam, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, follows Vikram Pandit, a young management student who becomes increasingly involved in questions of corruption, inequality, politics, and social injustice. The narrative eventually moves toward Bastar and the problems surrounding tribal communities and Naxalism. The film therefore connects urban education and capitalism with the social realities of marginalized communities.

One striking sequence begins with a tribal villager cutting wood in Bastar. The film places this image in two different periods, suggesting continuity rather than progress in the condition of the tribal community. A. Sunkanna notes this contrast between the historical and contemporary images and interprets it as an indication of the continuing social condition of Bastar.

This scene can be understood through Barad’s discussion of spatial amnesia. Rob Nixon’s concept describes the tendency to forget the historical relationships between marginalized people and the spaces they inhabit. In the film, Bastar is not simply a geographical background. It represents a space in which tribal life, forests, poverty, political violence, and questions of development intersect.

Internal Colonialism and Dispossession

The film also illustrates the idea of internal colonialism. Colonial rule may have ended formally, but unequal power structures can continue within the nation. Barad explains that indigenous communities in decolonized countries may still face dispossession when their ancestral lands are appropriated for development and resource extraction.

This becomes visible in the film’s representation of tribal people who are caught between state institutions and Maoist forces. Mukhopadhyay argues that the film presents tribal communities as trapped within a complex nexus of state machinery, political violence, globalization, and industrial development.

The tribal community therefore becomes the most vulnerable group in a struggle between larger systems of power. Their lives and resources become part of political and economic conflicts over which they have limited control.

Capitalism, Globalization and the Potters Club

The Potters Club is another important example. Sheetal and Charu work with women from Bastar villages to produce pottery. When government funding is stopped, Vikram proposes a business model in which the products can be sold directly without middlemen. Sunkanna notes that the film presents this as a modern response to the problem of traditional producers not receiving the full benefits of the market.

This episode can be connected with David Harvey’s idea of accumulation by dispossession, discussed by Barad. Harvey explains how capitalism can accumulate wealth through the control of resources, land, labour, and previously shared forms of production.

The Potters Club therefore raises an important question: can globalization genuinely empower marginalized producers, or can it simply create another system in which their labour is controlled by more powerful economic structures? The film suggests that modern markets can offer opportunities, but those opportunities remain surrounded by political and institutional inequalities.

Environmental Justice and the Human Cost of Development

The environmental significance of Buddha in a Traffic Jam lies in its connection between land, livelihood, marginalization, and development. The film does not focus directly on climate disasters, but it shows why environmental concerns cannot be separated from the lives of communities that depend on natural resources.

Barad’s discussion of the Narmada movement similarly demonstrates that development can create environmental damage while displacing tribal communities. The larger question is therefore not simply whether development is good or bad, but who defines development and who pays its price.

From this perspective, environmental justice means that marginalized communities must have a voice in decisions concerning their land, forests, resources, and futures.

My Critical Reflection

For me, the most important lesson from Barad’s article and the film is that environmental crisis cannot be separated from social inequality. We often speak about environmental protection as if nature exists independently from human society. However, forests and land are also homes, sources of food, cultural spaces, and economic resources for communities.

The film also made me question the idea that modernization automatically means progress. Vikram’s attempt to create a new economic model for the tribal producers is innovative, but the larger political system remains unequal. This shows that technology and markets alone cannot solve problems created by historical and institutional injustice.

At the same time, the film should also be read critically. Much of the story is presented through urban characters such as Vikram and Professor Batki. Therefore, the tribal community is often represented through the viewpoint of outsiders. This reminds us of an important postcolonial question: who has the authority to speak for the marginalized?

Postcolonial Thought in the Globalized World

Barad concludes that postcolonial studies must respond to the continuing relationship between colonial histories, environmental crisis, and global capitalism. He highlights the environment, indigenous peoples, premodern cultures, and the continuing colonization of territories, labour, and people by global capitalism as important areas for future postcolonial study.

This argument remains relevant today because globalization has connected distant economies, resources, corporations, and consumers. Environmental destruction in one region can be linked to economic demands elsewhere. At the same time, communities with the least political power can experience the greatest consequences.

Chakrabarty’s idea of species thinking also encourages us to recognize that humanity shares one planet. But this universal perspective should not erase differences of class, history, geography, and power. A sustainable future must therefore be both ecological and socially just.

Conclusion

Dilip Barad’s “Postcolonial Studies in the Anthropocene” demonstrates that postcolonial studies must move beyond its traditional boundaries and engage with environmental crisis, capitalism, indigenous rights, and continuing forms of dispossession. His discussion of Vandana Shiva, Rob Nixon, internal colonialism, primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession, and Dipesh Chakrabarty provides a strong framework for understanding contemporary environmental inequalities.

When read through this framework, Buddha in a Traffic Jam becomes more than a political film. Its representation of Bastar, tribal communities, forests, land, globalization, and development reveals the unequal relationship between power and vulnerable communities. The film reminds us that environmental questions are also questions of history, justice, economics, and representation. In the Anthropocene, therefore, protecting the environment also means protecting the dignity, rights, livelihoods, and voices of those communities that have historically been pushed to the margins.