History on Wednesday: Towards a Political and Cultural History of Environmental Regeneration in South Asia: Tentative Frameworks and Early Case Studies
Towards a Political and Cultural History of Environmental Regeneration in South Asia: Tentative Frameworks and Early Case Studies
Professor Taylor Sherman, London School of Economics | 12:10pm, 9 August, 2023
Professor Taylor Sherman, London School of Economics | 12:10pm, 19 August, 2023
The history of environmentalism in postcolonial South Asia, is often told as the history of protest movements: Hug the trees! Stop the Dam! There have been no histories of projects which have aimed to restore, rebuild or even ‘rewild’ ecosystems. Rather, this subject has been, thus far, the preserve of ecologists and critical geographers. The starting point of this research project is that environmental regeneration, when undertaken, has always been enmeshed in political and cultural developments, including protests from citizens, demands from multilateral lenders, and advocacy from charities. Equally, as the projects have been undertaken, they have generated new cultural and political trends: new imaginations of the past, new political economies of extraction, new relations between people and places. This research project explores efforts to reforest the middle hills of Nepal, replenish freshwater tanks in Southern India, and rejuvenate a turtle population in Sri Lanka in the final decades of the 20th century. Still in its early stages, this paper will draw on global scholarship to explore some frameworks for analysis, and present tentative findings from early research.
About the speaker
Taylor C Sherman is Professor of Modern South Asian History at the London School of Economics. Her previous research has concerned state violence and punishment, citizenship and migration, development and socialism. Her most recent book is Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths (Princeton University Press, 2022).
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Where
School of Humanities Common Room – A22, Level 8, A18 Brennan MacCullum Building. Spaces are limited for in-person tickets, so please register as soon as possible if you would like to reserve a spot.
Zoom info to be sent ahead of the event.
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