The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis, by Amitav Ghosh

• Publication date: 12th October 2021
• 352 pages
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• ISBN: 978-0226815459
• Publisher: John Murray
• ISBN: 978-1529369458

By no means an easy read in terms of its subject and content (the writing is beautiful), The Nutmeg’s Curse is a really important story about why we are where we are: the deep roots of colonialism, dualism (nature vs man) and domination. We are not going to redress our ecological harm without facing into these facts, and Ghosh’s contribution to making us aware of this difficult history in an engaging way is an important one. I really recommend reading this book, it will change the way you see the world.

“The Nutmeg’s Curse 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.”

About the Author, Amitav Ghosh:

“Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956. He grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He studied at the universities of Delhi and Oxford and published the first of eight novels, The Circle of Reason in 1986. He currently divides his time between Calcutta, Goa and Brooklyn. The first novel in his Ibis trilogy, Sea of Poppies, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize.”

About Erin Remblance, your host during #DegrowthLitMonth:

Erin Remblance established her early career in blue-chip fast-moving consumer goods companies in Sydney & London, but always sensed there was more important work to be done. Having children gave her the space to explore the environmental and cultural crises on the planet that need to be urgently addressed. She shifted her focus to dedicate her life towards educating people on climate change, degrowth, planetary boundaries, modern monetary theory and more. Erin is a writer, researcher, co-creator of (re)Biz, wife, and mother of three children. She lives north of Sydney, Australia with her family, on the occupied ancestral country of the Gayemagal people.

Follow Erin on Substack, LinkedIn, (re)Biz and X (formerly Twitter).

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