Sunil Amrith's guest appearances

Sunil Amrith

TBS eFM This Morning

Centre of South Asian Studies: Seminars

ROCKING OUR PRIORS

Climate Change Vol. 2

AHR Interview

Lekh

Robert Greene

Jennifer Smith

Ben Anderson

Daron Acemoglu

Nic Cheeseman

Adam Branch

Trevor Getz

Sean Jacobs

Benjamin Siegel

Nathan Lane

Xin Wang

Ari Joskowicz

Lee McIntyre

Ben Wright

Paul Kramer

OwlTail

In the fourth episode of Lekh, I speak to Sunil Amrith, Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History at Yale University, on his recent book Unruly Waters: How Rains, Rivers, Coasts and Seas have shaped Asia’s history published in 2018 by Basic Books. Amrith's book reimagines Asia's and India's history through its unruly waters - rains, rivers, coasts and seas and how individuals - leaders, bureaucrats, administrators, scientists,  engineers and farmers attempted to control water. This history seen through India's experiences shows how conceptions, dreams, ideas and fears of water influenced and shaped strategies to control and manage it and larger discourses related to political independence, economic self-sufficiency and development. This history is particularly relevant today as large populous Asian powers like China and India construct hundreds of dams in the Himalayas with potentially profound domestic and international effects. The conversation begins by placing the book into Amrith's oeuvre, understanding what perspectives of water add to India's historiography before moving on to unpacking how the book shows why water is fundamentally politics. The conversation continues by probing the effects of the pandemic on archival research and how scholars can think through challenges posed by the inability to travel across borders to research and write regional and global histories. In an era of climate change and water conflicts, the conversation concludes by asking whether the politics of environment in India can be nationalised to limit the detrimental effects of water projects underway.  

In the fourth episode of Lekh, I speak to Sunil Amrith, Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History at Yale University, on his recent book Unruly Waters: How Rains, Rivers, Coasts and Seas have shaped Asia’s history published in 2018 by Basic Books. Amrith's book reimagines Asia's and India's history through its unruly waters - rains, rivers, coasts and seas and how individuals - leaders, bureaucrats, administrators, scientists,  engineers and farmers attempted to control water. This history seen through India's experiences shows how conceptions, dreams, ideas and fears of water influenced and shaped strategies to control and manage it and larger discourses related to political independence, economic self-sufficiency and development. This history is particularly relevant today as large populous Asian powers like China and India construct hundreds of dams in the Himalayas with potentially profound domestic and international effects. The conversation begins by placing the book into Amrith's oeuvre, understanding what perspectives of water add to India's historiography before moving on to unpacking how the book shows why water is fundamentally politics. The conversation continues by probing the effects of the pandemic on archival research and how scholars can think through challenges posed by the inability to travel across borders to research and write regional and global histories. In an era of climate change and water conflicts, the conversation concludes by asking whether the politics of environment in India can be nationalised to limit the detrimental effects of water projects underway.

Sunil Amrith - Unruly Waters

Lecture date: May 6, 2020. Historian Sunil Amrith discusses his book, Unruly Waters, in which he reimagines Asia’s history through the stories of its rains, rivers, coasts, and seas—and of the weather-watchers and engineers, mapmakers, and farmers who have sought to control them.

Lecture Archive: Sunil Amrith

Professor Sunil Amrith (at Harvard) shares insights from his fascinating new book: "Unruly Waters".Together we discuss: Is geography destiny? How important has mastery over water been to econ development in Asia? Why have activists been unsuccessful, in pushing for environ regulation? How are Asian govs trying to mitigate climate breakdown? What are their priorities?To learn more about the book, click here: https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/sunil-amrith/unruly-waters/9780465097739/To learn more about Professor Amrith, click here: https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/sunil-amrith

Professor Sunil Amrith (at Harvard) shares insights from his fascinating new book: "Unruly Waters". Together we discuss: Is geography destiny? How important has mastery over water been to econ development in Asia? Why have activists been unsuccessful, in pushing for environ regulation? How are Asian govs trying to mitigate climate breakdown? What are their priorities? To learn more about the book, click here: <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/sunil-amrith/unruly-waters/9780465097739/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/sunil-amrith/unruly-waters/9780465097739/</a> To learn more about Professor Amrith, click here: <a href="https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/sunil-amrith" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/sunil-amrith</a>

"Unruly Waters": Professor Sunil Amrith

In this episode we speak with Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and Professor of History at Harvard University. He is the author of the 2006 book Decolonizing International Health: South and Southeast Asia, 1930-1965 and the 2011 book Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia. His most recent book, published in 2013, is Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants. Amrith speaks with Pedro Machado who is Associate Professor of History at Indiana University and whose own work focuses on the history of social and commercial connections between western India and southeastern Africa. Their conversation explores Amrith’s most recent book as well as what his recent award might mean for his future research. They begin by discussing Amrith’s AHR article, “Tamil Diasporas across the Bay of Bengal,” which appeared in the June 2009 issue. Read Amrith's article in the AHR: https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.114.3.547 Listeners may also be interested in the December 2016 AHR forum on Amitav Ghosh's "Ibis Trilogy": https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/121.5.1521

In this episode we speak with Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and Professor of History at Harvard University. He is the author of the 2006 book Decolonizing International Health: South and Southeast Asia, 1930-1965 and the 2011 book Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia. His most recent book, published in 2013, is Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants. Amrith speaks with Pedro Machado who is Associate Professor of History at Indiana University and whose own work focuses on the history of social and commercial connections between western India and southeastern Africa. Their conversation explores Amrith’s most recent book as well as what his recent award might mean for his future research. They begin by discussing Amrith’s AHR article, “Tamil Diasporas across the Bay of Bengal,” which appeared in the June 2009 issue. Read Amrith's article in the AHR: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.114.3.547" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.114.3.547</a> Listeners may also be interested in the December 2016 AHR forum on Amitav Ghosh's "Ibis Trilogy": <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/121.5.1521" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/121.5.1521</a>

Sunil Amrith Discusses His Recent MacArthur Fellowship Award