Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997
Blue jeans, MTV, Coca-Cola, and… ecology? We don't often think of conservation sciences as a U.S. export, but in the second half of the twentieth century an astounding array of scientists and ideas flowed out from the United States into the world, preaching the gospel of conservation-oriented ecology.

Inventing Global Ecology grapples with how we should understand the development of global ecology in the twentieth century—a science that is held responsible for, literally, saving the world. Is the spread of ecology throughout the globe a subtle form of cultural imperialism, as some claim? Or is it a manifestation of an increasingly globalized world, where ideas, people, and things move about with greater freedom than ever before?

Using India as the case study, Professor Michael Lewis considers the development of conservation policies and conservation sciences since the end of World War II and the role of United States scientists, ideas, and institutions in this process. Was India subject to a subtle form of Americanization, or did Indian ecologists develop their own agenda, their own science, and their own way of understanding (and saving) the natural world? Does nationality even matter when doing ecology?

This readable narrative will carry you through the first fifty years of independent India, from the meadows of the Himalayan Mountains to the rainforests of southern India, from Gandhi and Nehru to Project Tiger. Of equal interest to the general reader, to scientists, and to scholars of history and globalization, Inventing Global Ecology combines ethnographic fieldwork and oral history conducted in India and the United States, as well as traditional archival research.

1111883565
Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997
Blue jeans, MTV, Coca-Cola, and… ecology? We don't often think of conservation sciences as a U.S. export, but in the second half of the twentieth century an astounding array of scientists and ideas flowed out from the United States into the world, preaching the gospel of conservation-oriented ecology.

Inventing Global Ecology grapples with how we should understand the development of global ecology in the twentieth century—a science that is held responsible for, literally, saving the world. Is the spread of ecology throughout the globe a subtle form of cultural imperialism, as some claim? Or is it a manifestation of an increasingly globalized world, where ideas, people, and things move about with greater freedom than ever before?

Using India as the case study, Professor Michael Lewis considers the development of conservation policies and conservation sciences since the end of World War II and the role of United States scientists, ideas, and institutions in this process. Was India subject to a subtle form of Americanization, or did Indian ecologists develop their own agenda, their own science, and their own way of understanding (and saving) the natural world? Does nationality even matter when doing ecology?

This readable narrative will carry you through the first fifty years of independent India, from the meadows of the Himalayan Mountains to the rainforests of southern India, from Gandhi and Nehru to Project Tiger. Of equal interest to the general reader, to scientists, and to scholars of history and globalization, Inventing Global Ecology combines ethnographic fieldwork and oral history conducted in India and the United States, as well as traditional archival research.

34.95 Out Of Stock
Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997

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

by Michael L. Lewis
Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997

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

by Michael L. Lewis

Paperback(1)

$34.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Temporarily Out of Stock Online
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

Blue jeans, MTV, Coca-Cola, and… ecology? We don't often think of conservation sciences as a U.S. export, but in the second half of the twentieth century an astounding array of scientists and ideas flowed out from the United States into the world, preaching the gospel of conservation-oriented ecology.

Inventing Global Ecology grapples with how we should understand the development of global ecology in the twentieth century—a science that is held responsible for, literally, saving the world. Is the spread of ecology throughout the globe a subtle form of cultural imperialism, as some claim? Or is it a manifestation of an increasingly globalized world, where ideas, people, and things move about with greater freedom than ever before?

Using India as the case study, Professor Michael Lewis considers the development of conservation policies and conservation sciences since the end of World War II and the role of United States scientists, ideas, and institutions in this process. Was India subject to a subtle form of Americanization, or did Indian ecologists develop their own agenda, their own science, and their own way of understanding (and saving) the natural world? Does nationality even matter when doing ecology?

This readable narrative will carry you through the first fifty years of independent India, from the meadows of the Himalayan Mountains to the rainforests of southern India, from Gandhi and Nehru to Project Tiger. Of equal interest to the general reader, to scientists, and to scholars of history and globalization, Inventing Global Ecology combines ethnographic fieldwork and oral history conducted in India and the United States, as well as traditional archival research.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780821415412
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Publication date: 04/27/2004
Series: Ecology & History
Edition description: 1
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

An assistant professor of history at Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland, Michael Lewis trained first as a biologist and later in American studies. Inventing Global Ecology comes out of research conducted in India.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrationsvii
List of Abbreviationsix
Introduction: Tracking Elephants1
Chapter 1.Tracking Ideas: Transnational Science13
Chapter 2.The Gateway to India: Salim Ali, S. Dillon Ripley, and the Introduction of the New Ecology to India25
Chapter 3.Looking for the Jungle: U.S. Ecologists in India54
Chapter 4.Scientists or Spies? Ecology and Cold War Suspicion81
Chapter 5."Modern" Ecology Comes to India: Madhav Gadgil and the CES109
Chapter 6.Science to Save the Natural World: The Ecology of Conservation138
Chapter 7.Indian Science for Indian Conservation: Nationalism and Wildlife Biology159
Chapter 8.All Nature Great and Small: Designing Indian Nature Preserves199
Epilogue: Conservation Ecology Crossing Borders233
Acknowledgments241
Notes243
Bibliography281
Index301
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews