Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland Asia
We, a group of native scholars based in the Himalayan region, co-author this article to propose an environmental humanities South—concurrently as an Asia-specific interdisciplinary field and a planetary human–nature epistemology of the Global South inextricably entwined with that of the Global North...
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/19 |
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| author | Dan Smyer Yü Ambika Aiyadurai Mamang Dai Razzeko Delley Rashila Deshar Iftekhar Iqbal Chi Huyen Truong Bhargabi Das Mongfing Lepcha Thinley Dema Madan Koirala Zainab Khalid Zhen Ma |
| author_facet | Dan Smyer Yü Ambika Aiyadurai Mamang Dai Razzeko Delley Rashila Deshar Iftekhar Iqbal Chi Huyen Truong Bhargabi Das Mongfing Lepcha Thinley Dema Madan Koirala Zainab Khalid Zhen Ma |
| author_sort | Dan Smyer Yü |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We, a group of native scholars based in the Himalayan region, co-author this article to propose an environmental humanities South—concurrently as an Asia-specific interdisciplinary field and a planetary human–nature epistemology of the Global South inextricably entwined with that of the Global North. Framed in the broader field of planetary health, this article begins with a perspectival shift by reconceptualizing the Global South and the Global North as the Planetary South and the Planetary North for the purpose of laying the epistemological groundwork for two interconnected arguments and subsequent discussions. First, the Planetary South is not merely epistemological, but is at once geographically epistemological and epistemologically geographical. Our debates with the currently dominant epistemologies of the South open up a decolonial conversation with what we call the Australian School of the environmental humanities, the initial seed bank of our interdisciplinary environmental work in Asia’s Planetary South. These multilayered epistemological debates and conversations lead to the second argument that the South and the North relate to one another simultaneously in symbiotic and paradoxical terms. Through these two arguments, the article addresses the conundrum of what we call the “postcolonial continuation of the colonial environmentality” and attempts to interweave the meaningful return of the eroding Himalayan native knowledges of nature with modern scientific findings in a way that appreciates the livingness of the earth and is inclusive of nonwestern environmental worldviews. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0b81f244a04d4283b0c8d9c879f6364c |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2078-1547 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Challenges |
| spelling | doaj-art-0b81f244a04d4283b0c8d9c879f6364c2025-06-25T13:36:57ZengMDPI AGChallenges2078-15472025-03-011621910.3390/challe16020019Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland AsiaDan Smyer Yü0Ambika Aiyadurai1Mamang Dai2Razzeko Delley3Rashila Deshar4Iftekhar Iqbal5Chi Huyen Truong6Bhargabi Das7Mongfing Lepcha8Thinley Dema9Madan Koirala10Zainab Khalid11Zhen Ma12School of Ethnology & Sociology, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, ChinaDepartment of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Palaj 322055, IndiaIndependent Researcher, Papum Pare 791111, IndiaJomin Tayeng Government Model Degree College, Lower Dibang Valley 792110, IndiaCentral Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44618, NepalFaculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, Bandar Seri Begawan BE1410, BruneiSecretariat, The Himalayan University Consortium Kathmandu, Lalitpur 44700, NepalSchool of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddh Nagar District 201314, IndiaDepartment of Anthropology, Sikkim University, Gangtok 737102, IndiaFaculty of Social Sciences, Royal Thimphu College, Thimphu 11001, BhutanCentral Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44618, NepalDepartment of Geography, University of Bonn, 53001 Bonn, GermanyInstitute of National Culture Research, Dali University, Dali 671003, ChinaWe, a group of native scholars based in the Himalayan region, co-author this article to propose an environmental humanities South—concurrently as an Asia-specific interdisciplinary field and a planetary human–nature epistemology of the Global South inextricably entwined with that of the Global North. Framed in the broader field of planetary health, this article begins with a perspectival shift by reconceptualizing the Global South and the Global North as the Planetary South and the Planetary North for the purpose of laying the epistemological groundwork for two interconnected arguments and subsequent discussions. First, the Planetary South is not merely epistemological, but is at once geographically epistemological and epistemologically geographical. Our debates with the currently dominant epistemologies of the South open up a decolonial conversation with what we call the Australian School of the environmental humanities, the initial seed bank of our interdisciplinary environmental work in Asia’s Planetary South. These multilayered epistemological debates and conversations lead to the second argument that the South and the North relate to one another simultaneously in symbiotic and paradoxical terms. Through these two arguments, the article addresses the conundrum of what we call the “postcolonial continuation of the colonial environmentality” and attempts to interweave the meaningful return of the eroding Himalayan native knowledges of nature with modern scientific findings in a way that appreciates the livingness of the earth and is inclusive of nonwestern environmental worldviews.https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/19Himalayasenvironmental humanities Southepistemologies of the Southdecolonizing nature |
| spellingShingle | Dan Smyer Yü Ambika Aiyadurai Mamang Dai Razzeko Delley Rashila Deshar Iftekhar Iqbal Chi Huyen Truong Bhargabi Das Mongfing Lepcha Thinley Dema Madan Koirala Zainab Khalid Zhen Ma Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland Asia Challenges Himalayas environmental humanities South epistemologies of the South decolonizing nature |
| title | Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland Asia |
| title_full | Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland Asia |
| title_fullStr | Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland Asia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland Asia |
| title_short | Environmental Humanities South: Decolonizing Nature in Highland Asia |
| title_sort | environmental humanities south decolonizing nature in highland asia |
| topic | Himalayas environmental humanities South epistemologies of the South decolonizing nature |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/2/19 |
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