Abstract
Climate change is a paramount global challenge with far-reaching implications. How do communities socially construct their lived experiences as they grapple with the loss of habitat driven by climate change? To find an answer to the question we conducted in-depth field-based reflexive research on Ghoramara island located in the Sundarbans delta. We deploy extensive techniques to reach out to and study the entire extant population of Ghoramara as well as a large section of former residents of the island. Our analysis revealed that the embeddedness of humans and nature for generations created symbols, metaphors, folktales, and rituals shaping societal cognitions and actions. Uncertainties caused the inhabitants to adopt metaphors of extreme, alternate realities that oscillated between the generous and the precarious. Such oscillations eventually influenced the reconstruction of lives, actions, and identities to cope with the unavoidable future. We develop a theoretical model of oscillating between alternate realities to cope with environmental disasters for people at the margins.