Awadhendra Sharan: India’s Atmospheric Modernity: Smoke, Particulate Matter, and the Modern City

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Around the mid nineteenth century, air pollution began to be discussed in India, especially in its largest cities, Calcutta and Bombay. The concern was with black smoke and the impact that this had on the quality of urban life, human health, and economic efficiency. In time, visible smoke yielded to invisible particulate matter as a serious object of concern. And, more recently, heat waves and extreme weather events have become significant public issues. In my lecture, I revisit these earlier historical concerns around air quality, underlining both their specificity and what lessons they have to offer to us in the age of the Anthropocene.

Awadhendra Sharan is Director and Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. His research interests are in the fields of urban and environmental studies. He is the author of Dust and Smoke: Air Pollution and Colonial Urbanism. India, c.1860–c.1940 (2020) and In the City, Out of Place: Nuisance, Pollution, and Dwelling in Delhi, c.1850–2000 (2014). His ongoing research is on climate thinking and urbanism in India.