Uncovers a spiritual dimension in the transition to the Anthropocene

What is the role of religion in shaping interactions and relations between the human and nonhuman in nature? Why are Muslim and Christian organizations generally not a potent force in Southeast Asian environmental movements? The Camphor Tree and the Elephant brings these questions into the history of ecological change in the region, centering the roles of religion and colonialism in shaping the Anthropocene-"the human epoch."

Historian Faizah Zakaria traces the conversion of the Batak people in upland Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula to Islam and Christianity during the long nineteenth century. She finds that the process helped shape social structures that voided the natural world of enchantment, ushered in a cash economy, and placed the power to remake local landscapes into the hands of a distant elite. Using a wide array of sources such as family histories, prayer manuscripts, and folktales in tandem with colonial and ethnographic archives, Zakaria brings everyday religion and its far-flung implications into our understanding of the environmental history of the modern world.

Uncovers a spiritual dimension in the transition to the Anthropocene

About the Author

Faizah Zakaria is assistant professor in the Departments of Southeast Asian Studies and Malay Studies at the National University of Singapore. She is coeditor of Fatwas of Singapore: Science, Medicine and Health.

Reviews

"In its contents and methods, this captivating case study has far broader relevance beyond its regional focus."

* Choice *

"While historians have produced studies of individual polities in the region before and after the imposition of imperial rule, The Camphor Tree and the Elephant is the first to situate this transition in a much larger environmental and religious perspective, thus providing a vibrant reevaluation of approaches to the Southeast Asian past."

* Journal of Southeast Asian Studies *

"A valuable scholarly contribution to the interdisciplinary fields of Asian studies, Southeast Asian studies, environmental studies, history, environmental history, and postcolonial studies."

* Southeast Asian Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780295751184
Author Faizah Zakaria
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint University of Washington Press
Publisher University of Washington Press
Weight(grams) 408g