Summary of Amitav Ghosh: The Nutmeg's Curse

00:00:00 - 00:50:00

Amitav Ghosh discusses his new book, The Nutmeg's Curse, which tells the story of a Dutch trader's journey to India in the 17th century and the consequences of his falling lamp. Ghosh's translation of the trader's Judeo-Arabic letters into modern Dutch provides a unique perspective on the history of the genocide of the indigenous people of India.

• 00:00:00 Amitav Ghosh's new book, The Nutmeg's Curse, tells the story of a world in crisis through the lens of mythology and folklore. Mr. Ghosh discusses how the book came about and the audience for which it is intended.
• 00:05:00 <could not summarize>
• 00:10:00 The video discusses Amitav Ghosh's book, The Nutmeg's Curse, which tells the story of the fate of the world in the face of many problems, including global warming. Ghosh talks about how the Dutch have been responsible for many atrocities in the past, and how one detail in the book stuck with him and compelled him to find and read the book by van der Kais.
• 00:15:00 Amitav Ghosh's latest novel, The Nutmeg's Curse, tells the story of a Dutch trader's journey to India in the 17th century and the consequences of his falling lamp. Ghosh's translation of the trader's Judeo-Arabic letters into modern Dutch provides a unique perspective on the history of the genocide of the indigenous people of India.
• 00:20:00 Amitav Ghosh proposes a solution to the mystery of the falling of the lamp in his book, The Nutmeg's Curse. He explains that the significance of the nutmeg for him is its ability to think of the agency of botanical entities, of how non-human entities come to be silenced, and of how colonial violence and enslavement led to the domination of white men. Ghosh also mentions that this domination led to the philosophy of Descartes and Bacon, which asserted that the world is a machine and that humans are the only ones who exist.
• 00:25:00 This video discusses how European elites began to use native Americans as resources in the late 1500s, just after they had arrived on the continent. They realized that a nutmeg was not a nutmeg unless it came from the bandar islands, and so they never tried to cultivate the nutmeg in the colonies. Meanwhile, in Europe, the witch craze was rampant, with tens of thousands of people being burned.
• 00:30:00 Amitav Ghosh argues that in order to address the challenges of climate change, we need to return to older forms of storytelling, specifically parables. He believes that the parable is a particularly useful tool for exploring these problems because it allows us to feel empathy for characters who are struggling in an unfamiliar environment.
• 00:35:00 Amitav Ghosh discusses the parabolic structure of his writing, which arises from his travels to see the land. He also mentions the book Desert Notebooks by Ben Aaron Wright, which he says is "an amazing book" and "completely devoid of French philosophers."
• 00:40:00 Amitav Ghosh discusses how the Enlightenment was sparked by European thinkers' interactions with native American thinkers and how this influenced ideas like equality and freedom. He explains that this idea is still pertinent today and that his new book focuses on the French Empire's attitude towards opium, which was one of the driving forces behind the British Empire's eventual downfall.
• 00:45:00 Amitav Ghosh discusses the history of opium and its effects on various parts of the world. He argues that the opium trade is a root cause of many of the world's current problems, including poverty and criminality.
• 00:50:00 Amitav Ghosh discusses his new nonfiction book, which will be about the history of colonialism. He says that he has dreams of writing novels again, but he knows that he needs to finish his current project first. He thanks the audience for their questions and says that he can't wait to read the book after watching the program.