Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
List of figures and maps
Map—Geographical coverage of the chapters
Situating environmental humanities in the New Himalayas: An introduction
Context
An experiment of undisciplining—challenges and dividends
Himalayan humanities for the New Himalayas
Pluriverse of Himalayan humanities
References
Part I: Kindred of the earth, deities, humans and animals
Chapter 1: Relatedness, trans-species knots and yak personhood in the Bhutan highlands
Folkloric entrances
Introduction: co-dwelling, co-evolving and co-shaping
Derrida’s cat and Haraway’s dog: extralinguistic communication and animal personhood
Trans-species relatedness, kin-making and knots
Intentionality, agency and affective lives among yaks
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 2: Lepcha water view and climate change in Sikkim Himalaya
Lepcha homestay in Himalayan Village
Water and myths
Lingzya waterfall
Tale of the water spirit and the hunter
Water and religion
Water and gender
Water and livelihood
Centrality of water
Unmanageable waters
Notes
References
Chapter 3: Eco-spiritual and economic perspectives in Bhutan’s Haa district
Introduction
A spiritual landscape
Local deities and stories
Deities and environmental conservation
The rise of instrumental orientations towards the environment
Neoliberal logic
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Part II: Aqueous earth
Chapter 4: Narratives from a fluvial world: Poetics of charland dwelling in neo-colonial Assam
Introduction
Chardwellers’ cultural narratives
Colonial and neo-colonial politics
The Miya poetry movement
Postscript
References
Chapter 5: Painting the genesis of the Lepcha: A world emerging from the water spirits
Introduction
Storying the water spirits of the Lepcha homeland
Painting the genesis of the Lepcha
Rongnyoo Lepcha
Mongfing Lepcha
Aesthetics of our storied world
Art of ethographing our past and present
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Muddying the waters: The invention and enclosure of Tibet’s wetlands
Wetland diversity, diversity in wetlands
How did we get here?
The downside of high modernism
Reform and environmental retreat
The limits of reform
Conclusions
Notes
References
Part III: Evolving cosmovisions, climate change and community resilience
Chapter 7: Aloof but not abandoned: Relationality and the exploitation of the environment in the Garo hills of India
Toppled boulders
A multispecies environment
Anthropogenic forests
Agentive boulders
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 8: Cordyceps, climate change and cosmological imbalance in the Bhutan highlands
Introduction
The Fungus economy and the ambiguity of wealth
A decline in religious and cultural observances
More outsiders, more pollution
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Chapter 9: Local knowledge of floods and coping strategies in downstream Mahakali River, Nepal
Anthropogenic context of floods from Mahakali River
Sunar of Kutiyakhabar community
Tharu of Belauri community
Flooding in Kutiyakhabar and Belauri communities
Protection of seed, food grains and cropland
Protecting houses and saving lives
Preventing water contamination and river channel erosion
Discussion—braiding together local knowledge with modern science and policymaking
References
Part IV: Transboundary environmentality and indigenous commoning
Chapter 10: Indigenous irrigation system linking people, place and the planet: The practice of Jamfwi on the India–Bhutan borderlands
Introduction
The conflict context of Northeast India borderlands
Jamfwi as a transboundary system of common pool resources
Drawing on the kuhl system in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
WhatsApp as early warning system—people-to-people network
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 11: Rajaki: An indigenous approach to commoning in Hunza, Pakistan
Rajaki
Commoning and community building
Rajaki under the impact of the anthropogenic infrastructure building
Gendered rajaki
Indigeneity of rajaki sustained in a world religion
The future of rajaki
References
Chapter 12: Transboundary environments, militarisation and minoritisation: Reimagining international relations in the Himalaya from Ladakh, India
Introduction
Putting international relations and environmental humanities in dialogue
Security and transboundary environments
Environmental state-making in the Western Himalaya
The “Decolonisation” of Ladakh
The Kargil War, Union Territory status and renewed India–China conflict
Cultural and ecological entanglements
Conclusion
References
Chapter 13: Symbiotic indigeneity and commoning in the anthropogenic Himalayas
Symbiotic indigeneity
The anthropogenic Himalayas as a new-animist earth
Transboundary water commoning
Restoration of environmental freedom as the basis of common ethics
References
Conclusion: Indigenous heritages and sacred earth
Sacred natural heritages
Indigenous lifeways in their changing lifeworlds
The value of indigenous cosmovisions and land ethics for a sustainable future
References
Index