Category: Social and Political Nature
-
A Short Introduction to Urban Ecology
Ajay Immanuel Gonji According to McDonnell (2011), the discipline of ecology came into the picture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and was defined as the scientific study of the abundance and distribution of organisms, and the interaction between each other and also the environment. In this newly developing field of ecology, human…
-
More-than-human Cities: On Urban Design and Nonhuman Agency
Kartik Chugh The modern cities are usually imagined as purified spaces of human existence, a humanist citadel, constructed by humans and for humans alone. The rapid urbanization fueled by capitalist development project proceeds without any regard for nonhumans. In its classical sense, urbanization transforms empty, unproductive wastelands into improved lands through a process called development…
-
Where Access is Denied
Ajay Immanuel Gonji Introduction Urban ecology is an evolving framework which integrates society and the environment at multiple scales. And while urban ecologists look for commonalities across urban ecosystems, in recent times, there has been much focus on the local and unique contexts which shape the socio-ecological character of each city (Grimm et al., 2015).…
-
A Healthcare System Which Cares About Women
Himanshu Choudhery Amidst COVID-19, when the situation in India is getting severe day by day, our public health care system seems to have come under considerable scrutiny for the several loopholes that have surfaced. While most of the hospitals are converted into COVID care centres, people are barely getting admitted to the hospitals for other…
-
Nature Through a Shifting Lens
Vijaylakshmi A few days back, during one of the conversations with my friends, we were reminiscing about some old travel memories and how effortless it was to have a small weekend getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city. We would generally plan a vacation out of the city as an opportunity to be…
-
Animal Geographies I: A brief overview
Kartik Chugh “Coronavirus: Industrial animal farming has caused most new infectious diseases and risks more pandemics, experts warn.” – The Independent (May 2020) “From Hamsters to Baboons: The Animals Helping Scientists Understand the Coronavirus.” – Scientific American (May 2020) “The wild animals at risk in lockdown” BBC (May 2020) These three recent headlines show some…
-
What’s in the Name?
Vijaylakshmi Suman How often do we as humans see the same thing in so many different ways. This difference in perceptions is generally labelled as subjectivity. My recent read of the book “Postmodern Wetlands: culture, history, ecology” by Rod Giblett (1996) provides a similar situation of how a wetland can be associated with diverse imagination…
-
Animal Capital in the Automobile Industry
Kartik Chugh Introduction As the world is taking a break from its usual routine, many of us have found interesting ways to utilize our time. Of late, I have developed a keen interest in advertisements. In my free time, I’ve scrolled through hundreds of commercials in an attempt to understand how they communicate a product…
-
Dead but Alive
Himanshu Choudhery Usually, when we refer to something as dead, the immediate thought that comes to our mind is that it has no more life in it. However, what is that one thing which is “alive” even when it is dead? A tree! That’s right. A dead tree is unique in that it serves as…
-
Nocturnal City
Ajay Immanuel Gonji I was awakened by the mild but discernible honk of a vehicle and soon realized that the bus that I was travelling in had come to a halt. I looked out of the glass window from my reclining seat but could only see a dense growth of vegetation shimmering from the faint…