Library Catalogue
Drowned and dammed :
D'Souza, Rohan,
Drowned and dammed : Colonial capitalism and flood control in Eastern India. Rohan D'Souza. - xviii, 270 pages, 1 folded leaf of plates : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm. - Oxford India Paperbacks . - Oxford India paperbacks. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-263) and index.
Introduction
1 Delta’s Integrity and Agrarian Rhythm
2 Capitalist Property and the ‘Calamity of Season’
3 Embankments and its Discontents
4 Delta in the Commodity-form
5 The Great Denouement and After
6 Production of the River
Conclusion
The water question in India has several contentious dimensions, be they inter-state river disputes, groundwater extraction by private corporations, farmer agitations for irrigation water, or urban anxieties over meeting water needs. Rohan D'Souza argues that the British project of flood control in the Orissa Delta was principally political in intent, aimed at anchoring their presence in the area. In Drowned and Dammed he comprehensively reconsiders the debate on the colonial environmental watershed and its hydraulic legacy in India. Colonial capitalism sought to dominate the Orissa Delta's many rivers by bringing about an unprecedented ecological rupture. Through the rubric of flood control, British rule instituted capitalist private property in land and re- shaped the region's hydrology with physical infrastructures such as embankments, canal networks, and dams. The Orissa delta was thus dramatically transformed from a flood-dependent agrarian regime into a flood-vulnerable landscape.
9780199469130 019946913X
2017304296
GBB695886 bnb
Flood control--Political aspects--History.--India--Odisha
Flood control--Economic aspects--History.--India--Odisha
Political ecology--History.--India--Odisha
Orissa (India)--Politics and government--19th century.
India--Politics and government--1765-1947.
DS485.O66 / D82 2016
333.91 DSO
Drowned and dammed : Colonial capitalism and flood control in Eastern India. Rohan D'Souza. - xviii, 270 pages, 1 folded leaf of plates : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm. - Oxford India Paperbacks . - Oxford India paperbacks. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-263) and index.
Introduction
1 Delta’s Integrity and Agrarian Rhythm
2 Capitalist Property and the ‘Calamity of Season’
3 Embankments and its Discontents
4 Delta in the Commodity-form
5 The Great Denouement and After
6 Production of the River
Conclusion
The water question in India has several contentious dimensions, be they inter-state river disputes, groundwater extraction by private corporations, farmer agitations for irrigation water, or urban anxieties over meeting water needs. Rohan D'Souza argues that the British project of flood control in the Orissa Delta was principally political in intent, aimed at anchoring their presence in the area. In Drowned and Dammed he comprehensively reconsiders the debate on the colonial environmental watershed and its hydraulic legacy in India. Colonial capitalism sought to dominate the Orissa Delta's many rivers by bringing about an unprecedented ecological rupture. Through the rubric of flood control, British rule instituted capitalist private property in land and re- shaped the region's hydrology with physical infrastructures such as embankments, canal networks, and dams. The Orissa delta was thus dramatically transformed from a flood-dependent agrarian regime into a flood-vulnerable landscape.
9780199469130 019946913X
2017304296
GBB695886 bnb
Flood control--Political aspects--History.--India--Odisha
Flood control--Economic aspects--History.--India--Odisha
Political ecology--History.--India--Odisha
Orissa (India)--Politics and government--19th century.
India--Politics and government--1765-1947.
DS485.O66 / D82 2016
333.91 DSO