Professor Sufia Uddin
Julia Neumann
Julia is currently a third-year student at Connecticut College studying Environmental Studies and Religious Studies. Her main academic interests include learning about different systems of ethics and how religion motivates people to live their life in a specific way. For Julia, this project shows how the religious beliefs held by the inhabitants of the Sundarbans directly relates to their connection with the environment, specifically the mangrove forest. The discrepancies between the Forest Workers and the Poachers can be traced back to their belief (or lack of belief) in Bonbibi. The forest workers respect the forest and live a subsistence lifestyle because they believe Bonbibi wants them to be equitable with the flora and fauna of the Sundarbans. Julia is also interested in how people understand themselves within the environment. She lives outside of Camden, Maine and spends her days enjoying the beauty of the Camden Hills State Park and Megunticook Lake. Her personal interest in this topic stems from her semester at The Mountain School during high school and her NOLS trip to Alaska. At Mountain School, she experienced a greater sense of self and comfort while outdoors and obtained a better understanding of her connection with nature. Furthermore, her NOLS trip was the first time that Julia felt humbled by the natural world. While kayaking throughout the Alaskan wilderness, she realized the shear size of the world in relation to herself. Despite having these two experiences, she was unable to grasp why she felt humbled and comforted by nature. This gap in knowledge greatly increased her infatuation with the environment and sparked her curiosity about the role that religion and spirituality play in other people’s connections with the environment.
Avatar Simpson
Avatar is also a third-year student at Connecticut College, with a major in Environmental Studies and a double minor in Religious Studies and Economics. His passion for Environmental Studies derives from its interdisciplinary qualities, how every discipline has an environmental component in its undertones that unfortunately often goes unnoticed or belittled. He believes that people need to better understand the causes and impacts of environmental issues in every field in order to address them and attempt a solution. Avatar’s personal interest in sustainable infrastructure is an example of how a typically-perceived “non-enviromental” field needs to be understood through an environmental perspective, because, when not properly considered, the impacts on the environment can be devastating.Hailing from Chappaqua, New York (a suburb of Westchester County outside of New York City), Avatar grew up seeing the contrast between the natural world and urbanity. His household fostered an environmental consciousness that he saw was lacking in the city, and became curious if the two worlds could ever meet. As his understanding of environmental degradation grew, due in part to rapidly expanding urbanization, he realized that a more sustainable way to expand would have to be found. Avatar credits his father, an architect, with encouraging Avatar’s interests in these fields. His pursuits in Religious Studies come from his desire to better understand how different religions dictate the beliefs, actions, and livelihoods of their followers. He sees religion as a way to connect with a range of different people. Avatar’s interests intersect in this project in its many layers, particularly in how religious and social distinctions create hierarchies that further mobilize or marginalize individuals who fall into a certain category, and how these distinctions have a direct impact on the delicate and complex ecosystem that these people inhabit.
