Mahesh Rangarajan – författare

This volume brings to the reader the history of the alteration of environment by human action, and the reciprocal influence of the environment upon human history. The collection traces the long history of geographical shifts in human occupation, the difficult path to industrialization, the forced displacements and destruction of forests and marshes, the state-led industrialization in response to poverty, and the destruction of forests due to European colonialism etc. A set of macro- and micro-regional studies of environmental history and economic development with respect to India, China, Bangladesh, and Brazil are discussed. As a whole, this collection offers some of the best recent works at the intersection of two new sub-disciplines taking history, economics, and nature into account. Contributed by experts in the fields of sociology, history, ecology, and economics, this pioneering work is an invaluable resource for academics of all social science disciplines, environmentalists, economists, anthropologists, urban policy planners, and researchers.

Environmental history of India has developed as an important field of inquiry in the last twenty-five years. While providing major insights, the existing scholarship has primarily focused on drawing sharp lines of distinction-those between geographical spaces (forest, rivers, farms), people (herders, farmers, townspeople), eras (colonial, post-colonial), and so on. The limitations of these sharp divides are brought to the forefront when there is a critical engagement with the region's contested environmental past. Shifting Ground brings together an array of essays that pose critical questions regarding India's environmental past and the way it has been approached by scholars. From debunking the idea of a primeval, pristine forest cover, to analysing the dynamics that shape human-animal relations, to examining the conflicts created by post-Independence projects of rural development and conservation-this volume touches upon the various aspects of environmental studies and juxtaposes them with social history, history of science and technology, and history of trade and culture. Drawing on original case studies the book not only explores the past, but also portrays how its traditions are often invoked to be deployed in contemporary conflicts-those that are often aggravated by the pressures on natural assets created by the recent prosperity and the vaulting aspirations of a rapidly expanding Indian middle class.