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Book Review
| Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947–1997. By Michael L. Lewis. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004. Ecology and History Series, edited by James L. A. Webb, Jr. x+05 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth $55.00, paper $26.00.
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| By claiming to speak for nature, ecologists are gaining tremendous power to reconfigure landscapes through parks and reserves around the developing world. When they do, asks Michael Lewis in this smooth and smart study of what could be called the globalization of ecology, whose interests are they representing? Given that ecology and conservation more broadly have Western origins and are often funded by western organizations, are ecologists—even ecologists of non-Western origins—recreating colonial relations by imposing a fundamentally Western set of values? Or are they best seen as free agents picking and choosing the best tools from the tremendous variety of ideas that circulate in today's global world? |
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Both and neither, says Lewis. Examining the history of ecology and ecologists in India from 1947 to 1997, Lewis wisely maintains a flexible approach, not letting the theory get in the way of the historical record. He finds occasions when ecologists have crudely imposed their models upon local places and peoples, but also cases where ecologists have used their tools quite sensitively. Ultimately, he concludes that the categories we use to analyze these questions—categories that often reify national boundaries—need to be revisited. |
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The formation of a national park to protect the famous wetlands of Bharatpur in northern India presents perhaps the most tragic case of how scientific models developed in distant locations were applied inappropriately. Reflecting both recent U.S. park policies and international ecological theory, India's wildlife laws in the early 1980s mandated that Bharatpur be free of human activities and livestock. In later years, studies would show that these prohibitions on human use were not only unnecessary but counterproductive. Instead of competing with protected wildlife, villagers' cattle actually helped increase the numbers of rare bird species by consuming plant species that otherwise choked off the fish they relied on. But this realization came too late. When the Indian government decided to prevent human use in the Bharatpur park, it clashed with local residents, who had been using the man-made wetlands for grazing and materials for decades. In the worst incident, nine villagers were killed. |
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Lewis also points to cases where Indian ecologists displayed far more care and sensitivity in their use of science. The Harvard-trained ecologist Madhav Gadgil, for instance, has become a pioneer of ways to adapt ecological science to local conditions. As part of his vision of village-level biodiversity conservation, Gadgil has published nature handbooks in local languages and trained local teachers to monitor and preserve biodiversity. Gadgil's work on sacred groves—small patches of locally revered nature that often contain a great deal of biodiversity—also serves as a model of reconciling conservation with local needs and values. In Gadgil's hands, Lewis emphasizes, ecology seems flexible enough to adapt to local ecological and social situations. |
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Lewis's main point, however, is that we need to reexamine the national categories we use to understand the globalization of science. The fascinating story of Salim Ali, the great ornithologist, reveals the problems of thinking of ecology as a Western idea imposed on India. It was not British scientists but Ali, an Indian, who first brought ecology to India. Ali, moreover, had received his ecological training in Germany, not Britain or the United States, and subsequently adapted ecological techniques for India. Ali's close relationship with Dillon Ripley of the Smithsonian, which contrasted with his poor treatment at the hands of British biologists before independence, also showed that ecology could bring East and West together as much as divide them. |
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This is a fine study of an important topic and deserves to be widely read. |
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Thomas Robertson teaches history at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has lived and worked in Nepal for over five years and is currently revising for publication his dissertation, "The Population Bomb: Population Growth, Globalization, and American Environmentalism, 1945–1980." |
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