Water Histories of South Asia

The Materiality of Liquescence

Venugopal Maddipati editor Sugata Ray editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:2nd Jul '19

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Water Histories of South Asia cover

This book surveys the intersections between water systems and the phenomenology of visual cultures in early modern, colonial and contemporary South Asia. Bringing together contributions by eminent artists, architects, curators and scholars who explore the connections between the environmental and the cultural, the volume situates water in an expansive relational domain. It covers disciplines as diverse as literary studies, environmental humanities, sustainable design, urban planning and media studies. The chapters explore the ways in which material cultures of water generate technological and aesthetic acts of envisioning geographies, and make an intervention within political, social and cultural discourses. A critical interjection in the sociologies of water in the subcontinent, the book brings art history into conversation with current debates on climate change by examining water’s artistic, architectural, engineering, religious, scientific and environmental facets from the 16th century to the present.

This is one of the first books on South Asia’s art, architecture and visual history to interweave the ecological with the aesthetic under the emerging field of eco art history. The volume will be of interest to scholars and general readers of art history, Islamic studies, South Asian studies, urban studies, architecture, geography, history and environmental studies. It will also appeal to activists, curators, art critics and those interested in water management.

‘This eclectic collection of essays attempts to capture an ineffable quality of waterscapes: that they shape imaginations and actions in ways both fluid and enduring. At a time when the challenge of climate change calls for creative cultural politics, this exploration of ways of seeing and being is all the more valuable.’

Amita Baviskar, Professor of Sociology, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India


‘This eclectic collection of essays attempts to capture an ineffable quality of waterscapes: that they shape imaginations and actions in ways both fluid and enduring. At a time when the challenge of climate change calls for creative cultural politics, this exploration of ways of seeing and being is all the more valuable.’

Amita Baviskar, Professor of Sociology, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India

"This beautifully produced volume, printed on fine glossy paper, is a joy to hold and read. Ray (Univ. of California, Berkeley) and Maddipati (Ambedkar University Delhi, India) have put together a luxurious book of 14 chapters and 122 plates, in both black and white and color, to explore the material culture of water in oceans, dams, rivers, and lakes, from antiquity to the present.This is a wonderful contribution by Routledge and the contributors."

--R. D. Long, Eastern Michigan University, CHOICE, January 2020 Vol. 57 No. 5

ISBN: 9781138285316

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 994g

340 pages