Boekworc discussion on 'The Nutmeg's Curse - Parables for a Planet in Crisis' written by Amitav Gosh. With the history of nutmeg, Gosh shows how climate change and environmental crisis are the ultimate result of our own attitude towards the world and its earthly materials - discussion on January 11, 2023

11.01 | The Nutmeg's Curse - parables for a planet in crisis

Book by Amitav Ghosh, Indian writer and social anthropologist, writing historical fiction and non-fiction works discussing topics such as colonialism and climate change. (first published in 2021)

The history of the nutmeg is one of conquest and exploitation - of both human life and the natural environment - and the origin of our contemporary climate crisis. In this book, Ghosh discusses the journey of nutmeg from its native Banda Islands to many other parts of the world, taking this as a lens through which to understand the historical influence of colonialism upon attitudes towards Indigenous cultures and environmental change. The story of the nutmeg becomes a parable revealing the ways human history has always been entangled with earthly materials - spices, tea, sugarcane, opium, and fossil fuels.

Our crisis, Ghosh shows, is ultimately the result of a mechanistic view of the earth, where nature exists only as a resource for humans to use for our own ends, rather than a force of its own, full of agency and meaning.

Download verslag discussie (login, in Dutch)

BoekWorc discussion | Wednesday, 11 January 2023 | 14:00-16:00 | Amsterdam
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