Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997 grapples with how we should understand the development of global ecology, the science that is held responsible for - literally -saving the world. Is the spread of conservation ecology around the globe a subtle form of cultural imperialism, as some claim?" "Using India as a case study, Michael Lewis considers the development of conservation policies and ecological science since the end of World War II and the roles of U.S. scientists, ideas, and institutions in this process. Was India subject to a form of Americanization? Did Indian ecologists develop their own agenda, their own science, and their own way of understanding (and saving) the natural world? Does nationality matter in the ecological sciences?" This story will carry you through the first fifty years of independent India, from the meadows of the Himalayan Mountains to the rain forests of southern India, from Gandhi and Nehru to Project Tiger, Of interest to the general reader, to scientists, and to scholars of history and globalization, Inventing Global Ecology combines fieldwork, travel, and interviews with traditional archival research.

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