Shaking the Roots of Western Science in Amitav Ghosh’s <i>The Calcutta Chromosome<i/>

Authors

  • Sanjit Mishra, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India
  • Nagendra Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v5i1.538

Abstract

The typical worldview based on the strict hierarchies and rigid binaries of standard/ nonstandard, civilised/savage, good/bad, dark/white, rich/poor and so on needs to be interrogated and dismantled in order to develop a fair perspective of the world. Amitav Ghosh's The Calcutta Chromosome (1996) presents a critique of the Eurocentric discourse of science and offers the possibilities of an alternative, and a paradigmatic shift in our perception of modernity and primitivism. The present fascination for the Western model of science and development will push the planet nowhere but to a premature collapse. In this paper, we discuss the subversive strategies which Ghosh employs in the text to conclude that it is time we interrogated the grand narrative of science and development and put the local “other†in its place if we want to save the world from an impending disaster.

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Author Biographies

Sanjit Mishra, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India

Dr. Sanjit Mishra teaches at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorke, as Assistant Professor of English in the Department of Paper Technology.

Nagendra Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India

Dr. Nagendra Kumar teaches at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorke, as Associate Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

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Published

2011-06-15

How to Cite

Mishra, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, S., & Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, N. (2011). Shaking the Roots of Western Science in Amitav Ghosh’s &lt;i&gt;The Calcutta Chromosome&lt;i/&gt;. Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 5(1), 78–85. https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v5i1.538

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2011): June

Section

Articles

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