2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Re-conceptualizing Rivers in South Asia as Histories of the Biological Pulse
| Project/Area Number |
20K12319
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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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, 准教授 (60767903)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Rivers / Fish / Biological Pulse / Natural resource / Environmental History |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In my initial plan for 2020, I was to complete preliminary archival work in Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The Covid-19 restrictions forced me to reconsider. Only by February-March 2021, I was able to hire researchers based in India. Some preliminary survey of the Archives has been carried out in Bihar and Tamil Nadu and processing of the findings are now on-going.
I have published one peer reviewed article ‘Event, Process and Pulse: Resituating Floods in Environmental Histories of South Asia’, in Environment and History, 26, 2020, pp.31-49. I have also I published three book reviews on water histories and have given two talks on floods and environmental history, which are available on Youtube.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
I am currently processing the collections that were sent in by my research assistants from India. Several of the documents and records have been digitized and I am now mapping the main narrative. Though the archival collections are still very preliminary, I have enough to flesh out the basic plotlines involving the colonial impacts on Eastern India’s inland- fisheries. Specially the work of Hamilton Buchanan whose report “An Account of the Gangetic Fishes’, which was published in 1815. Buchanan records and describes close to 272 species and clearly indicates their need for complex ecosystems. I am also examining his field notes.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I hope to complete the first paper titled ‘Pulse in Muscle and Fin: Monsoons, fish and the biological river in 19th century British India’, which is to be presented at the Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12) at Kyoto (online) from 24-28 August 2021. This is part of a panel that has been selected under the broad theme ‘From Mud to Monsoon’. Following the presentation I hope to submit this paper to the history journal Modern Asian Studies. Simultaneously, I am also working on the second paper the draft of which should be ready by January-February 2022. This paper is titled ‘The making of the Cusec river in British India’ and is based on the collection of the private papers of British colonial irrigation engineers.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the corona damage, it was difficult to conduct a field survey, and the research expenses secured as travel expenses were not executed. Therefore, the amount used next year was incurred. Next year, it will be used for field work and visits to fisheries institutes, and collection of related materials.
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Research Products
(5 results)
