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This book explores the idea and practice of flood control and argues that this is a part of a political agenda, deeply implicated in the social, economic, and political calculations of capitalism in general and colonialism in particular. It argues for a comprehensive reconsideration of the debate on the colonial environmental watershed, its hydraulic legacy, and questions contemporary enthusiasm for flood control in post-independent India.
List of contents
- List of Maps, Figures, and Tables
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- 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
- Appendix I
- Appendix II
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author
About the author
Rohan D'Souza is Associate Professor, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan.
Summary
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.
Additional text
D'Souza clearly positions his work within the scope of a historically informed political ecology, as he establishes from the outset.
