Fair(er) Futures Book Club: The Nutmeg's Curse (Amitav Ghosh) (EN)

A book club for thoughtful conversations about (climate) justice. About the book The history of the nutmeg is one of conquest and exploitation – of both human life and the natural environment. Tracing the threats to our future to the discovery of the New World and the sea route to the Indian Ocean, Amitav Ghosh argues that the dynamics of climate change are rooted in a centuries-old geopolitical order constructed by Western colonialism. The story of the nutmeg becomes a parable revealing the ways human history has always been entangled with earthly materials - spices, tea, sugarcane, opium, and fossil fuels. Our crisis, Ghosh shows, is ultimately the result of a mechanistic view of the earth, where nature exists only as a resource for humans to use for our own ends, rather than a force of its own, full of agency and meaning. The book is a sharp critique of contemporary society and speaks to the profoundly remarkable ways in which human history is shaped by non-human forces. Find this book in the Muntpunt catalogue: English version, Dutch version, or Dutch-spoken Daisy audiobook. About the Fair(er) Futures Book Club How can we imagina a fair(er) future? One that respects both the limits of our planet and eachother's needs. In the Fair(er) Futures Book Club, we explore books by inspirting thinkers who offer practical insights and show us how beautiful the world could be. Sessions alternate between Dutch and English. This session is in English. Fair(er) Futures Book Club is an initiative of Oikos, think tank for socio-ecological change.