6k Years of Land Use in South Asia: Sustainability, Power Relations, and Tropical Variability

Summary

Tropical environments vary significantly in terms of rainfall and seasonality; these differences make a difference in the kinds of land use strategies that work over the long term. This paper reviews some of the opportunities and constraints of tropical environments in South Asia, considering the range of land use practices deployed over the last 6,000 years in this region. I argue that some practices which could be called sustainable also come at a high cost in terms of human dignity, particularly intensive farming associated with significant social inequity. Other land use practices support more egalitarian social forms, but under conditions of limited population density. We have much to learn from the historical experiences of the tropics -- one of these is certainly the ambiguity of the notion of sustainability.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21257