Tryst with Nature: Labour, Self, and Language by Savyasaachi, Orient BlackSwan Pvt. Ltd. 2023, 224 pages, ISBN-13: 978-9354424557
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68903/vjta.2026.v07i02.07Keywords:
political ecology, history of sci, socio-cultural anthropologyAbstract
The discourse on forest life today is an oblivious one. More often than not, it forgets the lives that borrow from, return to and remain within the mellow greens, and instead focuses on the forest as a policy object, which is in need of governance and management. Contrary to this popular discourse, Eduardo Kohn (2013) reminds us that “the world beyond the human is not a meaningless one made meaningful by humans” (p. 73). Savyasaachi’s book, Tryst with Nature: Labour, Self, and Language, can be read as a distinctly indigenous, and careful effort to answer that sentiment. It asks what it means for a forest to be living and to identify with the ways in which people inhabiting it make do with their surroundings. The book is best where it is most stubborn in its reading of the world.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Amrit Warwal (Author)
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