The Political Biography of an Earthquake: Aftermath and Amnesia in Gujarat, India (Society and History in the Indian Ocean)

Simpson, Edward

ISBN 10: 184904287X / ISBN 13: 9781849042871

Published by C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2013

The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR009578519

Synopsis:

For those so-minded, the aftermath of an earthquake presents opportunities to intervene. Thus, in Gujarat, following the disaster of 2001, leaders were deposed, proletariats created, religious fundamentalism incubated, the state restructured, and industrial capital- ism expanded exponentially. Rather than gazing in at those struggling in the ruins, as is commonplace in the literature, this book looks out from the affected region at those who came to intervene. Based on extensive research amid the dust and noise of re- construction, the author focuses on the survivors and their interactions with death, history, and with those who came to use the shock of disaster to change the order of things. Edward Simpson takes us deep into the experience of surviving a 'natural' disaster. We see a society in mourning, further alienated by manufactured conditions of uncertainty and absurdity. We witness arguments about the past. What was important? What should be preserved? Was modernisation the cause of the disaster or the antidote? As people were putting things back together, they also knew that future earthquakes were inevitable. How did they learn to live with this terrible truth? How have people in other times and places come to terms with the promise of another earthquake, knowing that things will fall apart again?

About the Author: Edward Simpson is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He co-edited Struggling With History: Islam and Cosmopolitanism in the Western Indian Ocean, also published by Hurst.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Political Biography of an Earthquake: ...
Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Publication Date: 2013
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good