Project/Area Number |
20K12319
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
Section | 一般 |
Review Section |
Basic Section 80010:Area studies-related
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Research Institution | Kyoto University |
Principal Investigator |
デスーザ ローハン 京都大学, アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科, 教授 (60767903)
|
Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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Project Status |
Granted (Fiscal Year 2022)
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Budget Amount *help |
¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥130,000 (Direct Cost: ¥100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥30,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
|
Keywords | River / Fish / Biological pulse / Natural resource / Large Dams / Environmental history / Navigation / Rivers / Large dams / Biological Pulse / Environmental History |
Outline of Research at the Start |
In recent years a considerable scholarship has emerged on the rivers of South Asia. In the span of barely a decade, ten full-fledged monographs have thus far been published on the environmental histories of rivers in South Asia. Despite this overriding interests in the theme, however, the notion of the river itself has remained firmly rooted within the resource framework and little by way of mention has been made of the complexities of fisheries and the biological energies of these river systems. There is, therefore, a needed conceptual corrective that is required.
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Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
For the year 2022, as part of the Kaken C Grant, I was able to publish two book chapter articles and two journal articles that were part of the research completed in 2020 and 2021. I also include a book review done for the prestigious American Scientist, which is on the challenge of water restoration and management projects. I have also initiated a fresh round of research for the Grant by a short visit to Kolkata (West Bengal, India) between January 8th to 13th 2023. In Kolkata I was able to meet the researchers who had done archival work for me in Madras and West Bengal State archives during the Covid period restrictions of 2020-21. I have secured many more primary sources from them which I am currently processing. My work on rivers and fisheries has also led to an invitation to conduct a Master class session on the theme of Environmental History of South Asia at the Rachel Carson Centre (RCC) at the University of Munich from July 24th to August 4th 2023. https://rethinking-environment-idk.de/event/masterclass-with-prof-dr-rohan-dsouza/
And a lecture titled ‘Silt, Fish and Engineers: The Great Hydraulic Transition in Nineteenth-Century British India’ On July 17th 2023 at the https://rethinking-environment-idk.de/event/silt-fish-and-engineers-the-great-hydraulic-transition-in-british-india/
I have also participated in both in-person and online conferences and workshops on themes relevant to the Grant.
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Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Currently I am in the final leg of putting together my research into a journal article and a book chapter. As part of the ongoing effort, I am delighted to have been accepted to become part of a larger initiative by the Global Asia Initiative (GAI) at Duke University (Durham, USA), which is planning to bring out a volume by the end of 2023 on the Hydrosphere, which is a multi-disciplinary effort to discuss the global water crisis and challenges. Towards the GAI initiative, I was recently invited to present (in-person) at the workshop. Details below.
‘Fins in the Inland Ocean: How Modern Rivers Discovered Their pulse in British India’, Global Asia Initiative Workshop titled “Histories and Society in the Hydrosphere”, April 28- 30, 2023. Duke University. USA.
I aim to submit the Journal article [Modern Asia Studies] by the first weeks of February 2024.
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Strategy for Future Research Activity |
My future work is intended to develop my project for the next Kaken C Grant on the great navigation versus railway debate in nineteenth century India. While working on the impacts of canals and dams on fisheries in India, I have stumbled on a cache of papers that concern the raging debate between 1840’s and 1850s in India over the question of whether to adopt railways or invest in navigation in British India. Given my previous work on floods, dams, irrigation and fisheries, the issues of navigation appears to be my next logical step.
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