The ecology and history of the Andaman Islands: Bottom up and through the lens of fiction

Pankaj Sekharia

Pankaj Sekharia

Palavras-chave: English

Resumo

Abstract

This paper is a first person account and reflection on research and activism in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but viewed through the lens of fiction. The key questions this reflection seeks to ask are about the challenges and relevance of fiction as a form of communicating the wide-range and multi-disciplinary nature of any particular bio-geography, of the possibilities that this might offer for creative expression and for communication and the nature of responses in one particular case involving this author. I will be approaching these questions through my personal experience of activism in the islands for 20 years and the publication in 2014 of my debut novel The Last Wave, which is a story deeply embedded in the history, ecology and people of the islands. I will also present some of the responses the book has received, particularly from readers in the islands themselves.

Biografia do Autor

Pankaj Sekharia

Pankaj Sekhsaria has been a long-time member of the environmental action group, Kalpavriksh and has worked on issues of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for more than two decades now. He has written extensively on issues of conservation in India, with a specific focus on these islands. He is the author of five books on the islands, including The Last Wave ̶ An island novel (Harper Collins 2014), Islands in Flux ̶ The Andaman and Nicobar Story (Harper Litmus 2019), which is a collection of his journalism over 20 years, and most recently Waiting for Turtles (Karadi Tales 2021) a short illustrated story
book for children on turtle nesting in the Andamans.
He is currently Associate Professor, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, where he teaches and researches issues at the intersection of science, society, technology and environment. Two of his most recent books include Instrumental Lives ̶ An intimate biography of an Indian Laboratory (Routledge 2019) and Nanoscale - Society's deep impact on science, technology and innovation in India (Authors Upfront 2020).

Referências

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