Environmental Pressures of South Asia

Catalog description

South Asia is one of the most densely populated geographical regions of the world. The traditional environmentalist view of separating/protecting ‘nature’ from human settlements often leads to conflicts of resources/land use here. This course studies the evolution of environmental governance in the diverse ecologies of South Asia across four substantive and methodological parts. Part I involves readings on environmental and agrarian systems in the Mughal Empire from the precolonial period (1526-1757) in South Asia. Part II involves readings on forestry laws from the British colonial period (1757-1947) in South Asia. Part III involves reviewing a series of books and films on environmental history in Asia. Part IV involves researching case studies focusing on local environment cultures from the postcolonial period (1947 to present) in South Asia. The course requires writing a final research paper based on a case study.