The Unquiet River

A Biography of the Brahmaputra

Häftad, Engelska, 2019

520 kr

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Beskrivning

The unruly Brahmaputra has always been an agent in shaping both the landscape of its valley and the livelihoods of its inhabitants. But how much do we know of this river's rich past?Historian Arupjyoti Saikia's biography of the Brahmaputra reimagines the layered history of Assam with the unquiet river at the centre. The book combines a range of disciplinary scholarship to unravel the geological forces as well as human endeavour which have shaped the river into what it is today. Wonderfully illuminated with archival detail and interwoven with narratives and striking connections, the book allows the reader to imagine the Brahmaputra's course in history.This evocative and compelling book will be interesting reading for anyone trying to understand the past and the present of a river confronted by the twenty-first century's ambitious infrastructural designs to further re-engineer the river and its landscape.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2019-12-05
Mått:147 x 225 x 55 mm
Vikt:810 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:602
Förlag:OUP India
ISBN:9780199468119

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Mer om författaren

Arupjyoti Saikia is Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in IIT Guwahati, India

Recensioner i media

Arupjyoti Saikia is already known to be the leading historian of Assam. With this magnificent biography of the Brahmaputra, he has also established himself as India's pre-eminent environmental historian. This book beautifully and seamlessly transcends conventional binaries of hill and plain, land and water, economy and culture, social science and natural science. Using a dazzling array of primary sources, Saikia constructs a compelling narrative of the river's journey from geological time to the present, evoking the Brahmaputra's many moods, the forms of human livelihood it enables and constrains, the forms of non-human life it sustains and enhances. This is a total history in the best, and fullest, sense of the term.

Innehållsförteckning

AcknowledgementsNote on Geography, Spelling, Illustrations, and Referencing StyleList of figures and tablesIntroductionPart 1Chapter 1: The River and Its Floodplain Environment Chapter 2: Life in a Floodplain Environment Chapter 3: Boats on the River Chapter 4: The Ebb and Flow of Riverine Pursuits Part 2 Chapter 5: Enter the Steamer Chapter 6: Redesigning an Enigmatic River Part 3 Chapter 7: Unruly Landscapes, Fluid Geographies Chapter 8: Tea Plants Move to the Uplands Chapter 9: Jute in the Floodplains Chapter 10: In the Time of Earthquakes Part 4 Chapter 11: Reining in the Recalcitrant River Chapter 12: The Nation's River AfterwordSelect BibliographyIndexAbout the Author