This article examines the social history of cholera in Jagannath Puri throughout the nineteenth c... more This article examines the social history of cholera in Jagannath Puri throughout the nineteenth century, focusing on the various factors that affected the colonial health and sanitary interventions in the region. It rethinks Puri’s ‘sacred’ space as a nexus of converging mobilities rather than a static centre, problematising the relationship between cholera and pilgrimage. It marks a departure from the dominant trend in historiography that stresses the significance of the Jagannath temple in complicating the processes of colonial cholera management in Puri, by focusing on the ‘external’ challenges and motivations that shaped the history of cholera in the region. The article argues that understanding Puri’s history requires de-centring the city as it was the linchpin of a dynamic circulatory regime that constituted not only pilgrims but also disease and ideas. It provides a backdrop for building on larger ideas that connect the ‘micro’ to the ‘macro’ narrative of cholera by recognisi...
Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History Journal, Environment and Society Portal, Rachel Carson Center, 2021
The article explores the social history of locust outbreaks in colonial western India during the ... more The article explores the social history of locust outbreaks in colonial western India during the 19th century. It understands the colonial policies for locust control in light of their larger social repercussions on the marginalized communities of Bombay Presidency like the Kaliparaj and Bhils. It argues that colonial encroachment in wastelands made the marginal communities more economically vulnerable forcing them to engage in the task of locust annihilation. It highlights the precarious conditions of the marginal communities under the British rule and their nature of relations with the colonial state as well as with the natural world.
This article examines the social history of cholera in Jagannath Puri throughout the nineteenth c... more This article examines the social history of cholera in Jagannath Puri throughout the nineteenth century, focusing on the various factors that affected the colonial health and sanitary interventions in the region. It rethinks Puri’s ‘sacred’ space as a nexus of converging mobilities rather than a static centre, problematising the relationship between cholera and pilgrimage. It marks a departure from the dominant trend in historiography that stresses the significance of the Jagannath temple in complicating the processes of colonial cholera management in Puri, by focusing on the ‘external’ challenges and motivations that shaped the history of cholera in the region. The article argues that understanding Puri’s history requires de-centring the city as it was the linchpin of a dynamic circulatory regime that constituted not only pilgrims but also disease and ideas. It provides a backdrop for building on larger ideas that connect the ‘micro’ to the ‘macro’ narrative of cholera by recognisi...
Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History Journal, Environment and Society Portal, Rachel Carson Center, 2021
The article explores the social history of locust outbreaks in colonial western India during the ... more The article explores the social history of locust outbreaks in colonial western India during the 19th century. It understands the colonial policies for locust control in light of their larger social repercussions on the marginalized communities of Bombay Presidency like the Kaliparaj and Bhils. It argues that colonial encroachment in wastelands made the marginal communities more economically vulnerable forcing them to engage in the task of locust annihilation. It highlights the precarious conditions of the marginal communities under the British rule and their nature of relations with the colonial state as well as with the natural world.
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Papers by Pallavi Das