**Amitav Ghosh: Exploring the Historical Roots of the Environmental Crisis**
Renowned writer Amitav Ghosh recently captivated an audience of over 100 people gathered in the main auditorium of the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa campus. His talk explored history, geopolitics and how we approach, think and write about the global crisis.
Ghosh began by transporting his audience to the island of Ternate in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. Although small and remote, the island has been at the heart of capitalist globalisation for centuries due to the clove industry that flourished under colonialism. Today, Ternate’s clove plantations are dying, with local farmers knowing that their problems are linked to climate change, which is seen as a historical injustice.
From there, Ghosh weaves a fascinating narrative that reveals the deep connections between the global environmental crisis, war, and geopolitical power. In his recent works, he delves into the roots of the current ecological crisis in powerful ways.
When we met beforehand, Ghosh told me that these questions have become central to his writing, and that his interest in human interaction with other forms of life is abiding. He realized that traditional literary fiction fails to capture the extraordinary realities of climate change, hence the essay “The Great Derangement.”
Ghosh explains that traditional literature often marginalizes or ignores the planetary crisis, relegating it to science fiction or apocalyptic fiction. He mentions the works of Octavia Butler and Ursula K Le Guin, which are labeled speculative fiction despite their accurate reflection of increasingly real crises.
For Ghosh, creating a new form of writing that is better suited to addressing the global crisis requires a multi-layered approach. He cites his graphic novel Jungle Nama as an example, where he revisits the Bengali folk tale of Bon Bibi to address greed and ecological devastation.
The novel was illustrated by Salman Toor and adapted into an audiobook with singer Ali Sethi, and then into a play. Ghosh wants his story to operate on multiple levels of narrative to become archetypal.
In his most recent works, The Nutmeg’s Curse and Smoke and Ashes, Ghosh continues to champion engaged writing about the global crisis. He believes that literature must evolve to better reflect the changing world around us.
In conclusion, Amitav Ghosh is a true literary pioneer who uses history and fiction to illuminate critical contemporary issues, inviting us to rethink our relationship with nature and ecology.