Speaking with Nature : The Origins of Indian Environmentalism.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Guha, Ramachandra.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Environmentalism--India.

Environmentalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (440 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2024.

Summary:

From one of the world's leading historians comes the first substantial study of environmentalism set in any country outside the Euro-American world By the canons of orthodox social science, countries like India are not supposed to have an environmental consciousness. They are, as it were, "too poor to be green." In this deeply researched book, Ramachandra Guha challenges this narrative by revealing a virtually unknown prehistory of the global movement set far outside Europe or America. Long before the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and well before climate change, ten remarkable individuals wrote with deep insight about the dangers of environmental abuse from within an Indian context. In strikingly contemporary language, Rabindranath Tagore, Radhakamal Mukerjee, J. C. Kumarappa, Patrick Geddes, Albert and Gabrielle Howard, Mira, Verrier Elwin, K. M. Munshi, and M. Krishnan wrote about the forest and the wild, soil and water, urbanization and industrialization. Positing the idea of what Guha calls "livelihood environmentalism" in contrast to the "full-stomach environmentalism" of the affluent world, these writers, activists, and scientists played a pioneering role in shaping global conversations about humanity's relationship with nature. Spanning more than a century of Indian history, and decidedly transnational in reference, this book offers rich resources for considering the threat of climate change today.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Introduction: Shades of Green

Chapter One: The Myriad-Minded Environmentalist

Chapter Two: Ecological Sociologist

Chapter Three: Gandhi's Economist

Chapter Four: Scottish Internationalist

Chapter Five: Dissenting Scientists

Chapter Six: Gandhi's Englishwoman

Chapter Seven: Culture in Nature

Chapter Eight: The First Hindutva Environmentalist

Chapter Nine: Speaking for Nature

Epilogue: A Partially Usable Past?

Acknowledgements

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780300280388

0300280386

OCLC:

1458758896