Date:
Location:
"Coastal South Asia and the Technologies of Risk "
Speaker:
Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies; Professor of History; Joint Director of the Center for History and Economics, Harvard University.
Co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University.
Contact:
Shana Ashar
shana_ashar@hks.harvard.edu
Chair:
Sheila Jasanoff, Faculty Associate. Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School.
Lunch is provided if you RSVP via our online form by Thursday of the week before the event.
Abstract:
This talk examines changing conceptions of the climatic risks facing coastal South Asia. Beginning with the history of coastal storm forecasting in nineteenth century India, the paper argues that urban growth and deepening state involvement in agrarian society shifted the focus of state intervention away from securing the coast from extreme but regular weather events (cyclones and storm surges) and towards mitigating the seasonal risks of uneven rainfall. The technologies of water engineering deployed to address the risks of a monsoon climate have had a cumulative effect on coastal environments in South Asia, particularly since the 1950s and with growing impact over the last twenty years. They are, themselves, the cause of new and escalating risks in an era of climate change.
Biography:
Sunil Amrith is Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and Professor of History at Harvard University, and joint Director of the Center for History and Economics. His work bridges South and Southeast Asian history, and has focused on the history of migration, the history of public health, and environmental history. His most recent book is Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants (Harvard, 2013). He is currently working on the history of water and environmental change in modern India.
