Investigating the Online Communicative Practices of an Indian Grassroots Environmental Movement Through Ecostylistics: The Case of #SaveHasdeoForest
Abstract
This study investigates the online communicative practices of the grassroots environmental movement #SaveHasdeoForest, in order to investigate their stylistic traits and communicative strategies. Through an integrated approach comprising ecostylistics, ecolinguistics, multimodal studies and postcolonial studies, the analysis shows that background knowledge about (post)colonial policies against the Indigenous peoples of India is necessary to fully decode the texts analysed; that multimodality, oppositions and translinguistic practices are major stylistic traits in the digital communication of this movement; and that engagement and persuasion are its main communicative functions.
Submitted: June 25, 2025 | Accepted: Oct. 3, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Online communication • Multimodality • Postcolonial studies • Ecolinguistics • Ecostylistics • Grassroots environmentalism • Indigenous peoples
Copyright © 2025 Elisabetta Zurru. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Tol/2499-5975/2025/01/010