The Oriental Society of Australia 2020 A. R. Davis Memorial Lecture (Online) | “The bones of our mothers”: Coal, climate and resistance in a Chhattisgarh District
The Oriental Society of Australia presents
The 2020 A. R. Davis Memorial Lecture
“The bones of our mothers”: Coal, climate and resistance in a Chhattisgarh District
Professor Devleena Ghosh, University of Technology Sydney
Abstract
In recent years, Adivasis in Chhattisgarh have been resisting the encroachment of their lands and forests by various mining corporations. Such developments have subsumed forest dwellers’ rights to the necessities of resource extraction and caused the displacement and loss of land and livelihoods. This presentation examines the historical status of forest dwelling Adivasis and the appropriation of their lands, first by colonial rulers in the 19th century and then by postcolonial governments. It discusses their resistance to these events in the context of the status of Adivasis in the Indian Constitution and the two Acts that attempted to clarify their rights (The Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 1996 and the Forest Rights Act 2006).
Speaker 
Davleena Ghosh is Professor of Social and Political Sciences at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney. She is the author of Beyond the Coal Rush: A Turning Point for Global Energy and Climate Policy (with Goodman et al, Cambridge University Press 2020), Teacher for Justice: Lucy Woodcock’s Transnational Life (with Goodall et al, ANU Press 2019) and Colonialism and Modernity (with Paul Gillen, UNSW Press, 2007)). She has researched and publishes in the areas of environmental and gender studies in South Asia and is working on a project involving land, indigenous people and renewable energy in India.
RSVP
Register to our A. R. Davis Lecture mailing list to receive the invitation to the Zoom link.
Enquiries
For more information, contact: Dr Josh Stenberg – josh.stenberg@sydney.edu.au
Image: At the gate of an Adani coal mine in Parsa East Kante Basan, Chhattisgarh (2015)
———
About the Oriental Society of Australia’s A. R. Davis Memorial Lecture
Founded in 1956 by Professor A.R. Davis, then-Head of Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Sydney, The Oriental Society of Australia was established to promote the knowledge of Asia in Australia as well as to provide a venue for scholars to present their work to their peers and others interested in Asia and Asia-related matters.
Social media
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Listen to talks on SoundCloud
Watch videos on YouTube