‘Airpocalypse’ or ‘Toxi-city’ have become commonplace headlines in South Asian newspapers and digital news outlets, as eight out of the world’s top ten cities with the worst air quality are now located in South Asia. The course traces how South Asia’s unique contemporary environmental problems, that now affect the largest population in the world, were fundamentally shaped through histories of colonialism and postcolonial state development. We understand why and how some of the most critical debates on the environment, whether on colonialism or social movements, emerged from South Asia. Moving through forests, rivers, and cities, we see how the imprint of British colonialism and postcolonial nation-building was deeply felt in South Asia. Alongside, we explore how identity – race, gender, caste, and indigeneity were closely linked to environmental transformations.

This is designed as an intermediary course that will familiarise students with the context of the South Asian environment as well as several of the critical debates that have shaped environmental history in South Asia and beyond. The emphasis will be on rehearsing not only the distinct conceptual and theoretical aspects of South Asian environmental history but, significantly as well, survey the rich and complex socio-ecological worlds that have been revealed through environmental writing on South Asia. The course will connect South Asia’s past to more contemporary times, where multiple environmental crises envelop the region including floods, air pollution, large-scale natural resource extraction, and of course climate change.

The seminar will be held through a combination of Socratic lectures, discussions, visual work, group work, primary source work, and a possible fieldtrip.