Reviews for Constructing belonging

The average rating for Constructing belonging based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-05-27 00:00:00 Eric Lammerts This book is written by two legends: Madhav Gadgil, an eminent ecologist (he established the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore; headed the ‘Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel’), and the famous historian Ramachandra Guha (author of the bestseller India after Gandhi; few people know that his specialization is environmental history; he did his doctoral thesis on the Chipko Movement). They present an ecological understanding of the Indian subcontinent’s history. While the book is full of passionate prose, and demonstrates in-depth study and scholarship, the authors also acknowledge that the study cannot be definitive, and that in time, it might be proved to be wrong. But it is obvious that the questions they attempt to answer are ones which have been largely ignored by historians, and are of primary importance to understand history. Peppered with numerable, and little-known, examples, the authors have put together a great book. A must read for anyone interested in India.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-11-18 00:00:00 Miguel Sanchez This is one of my favorite books in that it integrates Marxist modes of production analysis, an environmental theme, and Indian history all into one. This book was helpful to understand the caste system from a materialist perspective as well as understand how the commons were converted to private landholdings in India as well as shedding light on obscure periods of Indian history. A truly great collaboration between environmental scientist Madhav Gadhil and historian Ramachandra Guha (who, as I remember, co-authored this book but is not given credit on this site).