C'da, > But Prabhakara's own prolixity of the review is patience-taxing and > patronizing.
Could be, could be. Dr. MSP used to live across from us during those Jalukbari days. At that time, even as youngsters, I remember him to have been more of a jean-clad cynic than patronizing. The jeans threw us off - since the rest of the faculty were either suited to the hilt or some like some from the Sanskrit or Assamese depts wore the traditional dhuti-panjabi. Most were uppity, but some like Dr. Maheswar Neog for instance, could be seen around campus, with clean, white dhuti-panjabi, and always a nod and a smile for the campus youngsters. Incidently, in the early 70s, Dr. MSP discovered a mid-sized boat and other relics in his front yard, from the Ahom times (I think), perhaps earlier. Archeologists dug up the rest, put a shed over it, and it was promptly forgotten. I am sure nature must have reclaimed the find by now. --Ram On 7/26/05, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Interesting. > > But Prabhakara's own prolixity of the review is patience-taxing and > patronizing. > > > > > > > > > > > > > At 8:19 AM -0500 7/26/05, Ram Sarangapani wrote: > >For those interested, here is a new book titled 'Jungles, Reserves, > >Wildlife, A History of Forests in Assam' by Prof ArupJyoti Saikia, > >Cotton College. > > > >Follow the link to see some good photos and a write-up by Dr. MS Prabhakara. > >________________________________________________ > > > >http://www.flonnet.com/fl2214/stories/20050715000207200.htm > > > > Vol:22 Iss:14 URL: > >http://www.flonnet.com/fl2214/stories/20050715000207200.htm > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >>From wood to jungle to forest > > > >M.S. PRABHAKARA > > > >Jungles, Reserves, Wildlife: A History of Forests in Assam by > >Arupjyoti Saikia; Wild Areas Development and Welfare Trust, Guwahati, > >2005; pages 372, Rs.595. > > > >THE story that the author, who teaches history at the Cotton College > >in Guwahati, tells is not new. It is nevertheless worth telling again. > >This is because facts well known are not necessarily remembered, and > >the lessons from such facts are not necessarily learnt. So, while at > >times the narration might seem over-comprehensive to the point of the > >wood being lost for the trees, to use a metaphor apposite to the theme > >of the book, and the minutiae of its details may sometimes seem > >irrelevant and even incomprehensible insofar as the general reader is > >concerned, the story does hold one's attention. > > > >Put simply, the story is about how the "jungle" of pre-colonial times > >got transformed, one would even say transmogrified, via the mediation > >of colonial intervention, into the "forest" of modern days, with > >everything that the two terms imply. There is, undoubtedly, an element > >of wistful make-believe in this portrayal of the ancient "wood", the > >archetype of all untamed vegetation that existed in harmony with its > >environment at the very beginning of plant and animal life on the > >earth, before jungles and forests, into the "pristine jungle" of > >romance and myth, raw and pure and possessing an elemental beauty and > >mystery and magic, all the qualities seen and ascribed by human beings > >who even in the earliest times were both awed by its mystery and drawn > >by its productive resources, to the "wild jungle" of pre-colonial > >India and in course of time to the more ordered and managed and > >profitable "forest". > > > >The other, more solemn-sounding, objectives that the author sets for > >himself are to tell of the "making of the modern forests of Assam" and > >"to frame out the problematic environmental history of the region". > >Fortunately, little is heard of such "problematique" postmodernist > >jargon after the opening pages. > > > >This "innocence", if one may call it so, of the "jungle" of > >pre-colonial times is contrasted with the "organisation" of everything > >that followed colonial conquest and the incursion of new varieties of > >control inherent in the civil and military administration that > >followed that conquest: the surveys, the enactment of laws, > >regulations and rules; the commercial exploitation of the forest's > >wealth for the market whose aim was to preserve the forest to the > >extent of and in order to get the optimum out of the forests, the > >classic "enlightened-self-interest-for-the-common-and-greater-good" > >approach, the adverse impact that these policies had on the original > >inhabitants of the forests, human and animal, whose exploitation of > >their environment was for their own sustenance, not for accumulation > >of surplus for the market and the creation of wealth for personal > >enrichment. > > > >The book deals with all these subjects, and more. Organised under six > >chapters (not seven, as the author erroneously says on page 11) > >excluding the "Introduction" and "After Words" (sic) the story covers > >the period between 1874, when the territory of Assam came under direct > >colonial rule after being placed under a Chief Commissioner, and 1947. > >Technically, however, the cut-off point of the narration is 1950, the > >year of the great earthquake that had, in the author's words, "a > >tremendous impact on the forest resources of Assam in maters of loss > >of forest coverage and depletion of forest landscape". The lack of > >conceptual precision made worse by prolixity of the passage cited is > >typical of much of the author's "theoretical formulations" - which, > >again fortunately, taper off after a while, though examples of such > >prolixity and repetition abound. Here is an example from the very > >opening pages where the author speaks of the ownership of the forest > >and the exploitation of its resources, especially timber and elephant: > > > > > > > >RITU RAJ KONWAR > > > >Inside the Manas National Park in Assam. Through a process that > >involved colonial intervention and subsequently administrative action, > >the ancient "wood" transformed itself into "jungle" and then "forest", > >a term that indicates orderly management and profit. > > > >"Quite often the Ahom kingdom is known to have paid tributes to the > >Mughal emperor in the form of large number of elephants as war > >indemnity" (page 9). "The elephant often turned out to be the saviour > >of royal prestige as it was often given as a gift in the case of > >defeat of Ahoms" (page 10). > > > >THE story begins with an account of what the author describes as the > >"mapping of the forests" by colonial officials, with a view to having > >"a fair idea of what was there and how it would be helpful to the > >imperial needs". However, there is very little description of any > >actual cartographical work done; indeed, the book does not carry a > >single map or even a rough sketch, old or new, showing the forest > >cover in Assam and the changes that have taken place over the decades. > >Rather, the "mapping" is about how the forest was "seen" by colonial > >officials, with a view to assessing the wealth it had to offer. In the > >author's words, "the gaze was politically motivated, imperially > >designed; and ... this observation (`gaze') changed the forest > >landscape of Assam". This is really scholarly density with a > >vengeance. Put simply, the mapping was almost entirely about > >determining the timber wealth of the forests. > > > >But even this straightforward theme, that the rich forests were > >surveyed (mapped) with a view to exploiting their wealth, is presented > >with unwarranted complexities, obscurities and even plain internal > >contradictions. For instance, what does one make of a sentence like > >this - "The colonial forest department was in total command over the > >forest topography." The narration abounds with references that are > >never explained or, in some cases, plainly wrong - as when L.W. > >(Leslie Waterfield) Shakespear, the well-known author of History of > >the Assam Rifles, becomes "W. Shakespeare" in the bibliography, notes > >and index. Crucial sources cited in this chapter, such as "Captain > >Jenkins" and "Reid", the former (Francis Jenkins) referred to in a > >footnote as "agent of the governor-general in the Northeast frontier > >and commissioner of Assam" and the latter simply as "Reid" (probably > >one Captain Reid of the Artillery, mentioned in Moffatt Mills' Report > >on the Province of Assam) are never properly identified, though there > >is a reference to a "Francis, J" and his "Report on the Northeast > >frontier of India, 1835". One Masters, Deputy Collector of Golaghat > >and an Assistant Commissioner in charge of Nambor forests, appears on > >the same page where he makes his first appearance (page 38) also as > >Master. While on the subject of anomalies in the Notes and the > >Bibliography, Footnotes 30, 31 and 32 of the "Introduction" do not > >find any mention in the Notes and Reference section attached to the > >Chapter where the Notes end at 29. > > > >Some rigorous revision and professionally competent editing would have > >helped. Referring to the practice of woodcutters from Bengal entering > >government forest areas and cutting timber, the author says that in > >order to discourage the practice, the Deputy Collector of Kamrup > >suggested the levy of a timber tax. "He admitted that this was a > >rampant practice of the time. He also advised the commissioner that > >there should be minimum [emphasis added] restrictions on the felling > >of the young trees of valuable species" (page 28). Fortunately, this > >egregious blunder is not repeated subsequently (page 30) where the > >author correctly refers to the "prevention of destruction of young > >trees" and "prevent the felling of small trees of certain species". > > > >The transition from the jungle to the reserve was part of the process > >of forest administration, where the exploitation of its wealth had to > >go hand in hand with some ideas of conservation. Thus emerged two > >categories of forests: the reserve forests and the open or protected > >forests. The distinction between the two is described thus: "In the > >former, the entire responsibility of administration and control over > >the forests and its products rested with the forest department. In the > >other category, the rights and privileges of the forest department was > >(sic) confined to specific reserved trees or such rights which were > >defined exclusively for a specific forest." What is, however, lacking > >is an analysis of the rationale behind the distinction, and how it > >advanced the colonial agenda. One wishes, for instance, that some of > >the interesting, even startling, facts that the author records in the > >two tables (pages 72 and 74), like the increase in the area of reserve > >forests in Nagaon district, from just eight square miles in 1882 to > >111 square miles in 1884, were analysed in some detail. Instead, we > >have an exhaustive (and exhausting) account of executive decisions and > >the administrative process that led to the creation of various reserve > >forests, their location, areas and expansion (or in rare cases, the > >diminution) of the areas over the years, and across the districts, > >with no opportunity lost to cite from official correspondence over a > >century old. > > > >Despite such pointless prolixity, the narration remains interesting > >simply because the subject itself is so compelling. This is so when > >the author tears himself from official minutes and gets to discussing > >the impact of these policies on forest-dwellers and the peasantry in > >the environs, the conflicts that these engendered and the mobilisation > >of the peasant resentment by political parties of the Left in terms of > >a broader opposition to colonial forest policy. What official > >conservation policies have generally failed to take into account is > >that the destruction caused to forests and consequently to the larger > >environment by those who have historically lived in and in the > >vicinity of the forests is in no way comparable to the far more > >efficiently organised destruction of the forests for the market by big > >capital, the logging industry. A recent report from Mato Grosso, > >Brazil, said that organised gangs of loggers, with the active > >connivance of the government's environmental protection agency, Ibama, > >had in the past 15 years illegally extracted two million cubic metres > >of timber from the rainforest, enough to fill 76,000 lorries and worth > >$370 million. > > > >Official policies towards the forests continue to be contested ideas, > >as can be seen in the debates generated by the recently published > >Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005. The book > >under review, covering such a wide variety of themes relating to > >forests and their environment in the context of Assam, would have been > >of help in clarifying some of these issues had only the work been less > >jargon-ridden and more terse and direct in its narration. But then, it > >is not easy to write in a simple way; and by this yardstick perhaps > >this review too fails. > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Assam mailing list > >[email protected] > >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > > > >Mailing list FAQ: > >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html > >To unsubscribe or change options: > >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam > _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [email protected] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam Mailing list FAQ: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html To unsubscribe or change options: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam
