• ISBN13: 9780199489077
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: History
• Publisher: Oxford UP
• Publisher Imprint: Oxford UP
• Publication Date: June 17, 2018
• Pages: 376
• Original Price: INR 1195.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 500 grams

In an epoch when environmental issues make the headlines, this is a work that goes beyond the everyday. Ecologies as diverse as the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean coast, the Negev desert and the former military bases of Vietnam, or the Namib desert and the east African savannah all have in common a long-time human presence and the many ways people have modified nature. With research covering countries from Asia, Africa, and Australia, the authors come together to ask how and why human impacts on nature have grown in scale and pace from a long pre-history. The chapters in this volume illumine specific patterns and responses across time, going beyond an overt centring of the European experience. The tapestry of life and the human reshaping of environments evoke both concern and hope, making it vital to understand when, why, and how we came to this particular turn in the road. Eschewing easy labels and questioning eurocentrism in today’s climate vocabulary, this is a volume that will stimulate rethinking among scholars and citizens alike.

Gunnel Cederlöf is professor of history at the Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies and the Department of Cultural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden. Mahesh Rangarajan is professor of history and environmental studies and dean of academic affairs at Ashoka University, Haryana, India.