Being in the World: Recognition and Subjectivity in Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement

Abstract

In this exploration we will do the somewhat difficult and painstaking work of unpacking a few of the conceptual foundations which are outlined in the opening pages of The Great Derangement. Then, we will examine what and how these conceptual underpinnings allow us to think. In so doing, we will accomplish two things. First, we will see how crucial and central, historical understandings of the nature of and corresponding relationships between, being, language, and the world, are to Ghosh’s thesis and overall argument. Second, in revealing these implicit theoretical foundations, we will have the space, opening, and hence opportunity, to consider alternative conceptualizations of being, language, and world that may permit a more sustained and productive thinking of climate change.