Abstract

The ‘Nutmeg’s Curse’ opens the view finder to look into the cultural and historical antecedents of climate change in a colonial world. Nutmeg’s history is one of conquest and exploitation, both of human life and of natural environment. Nutmeg is just another totem in the rising list of earthy materials such as coal, precious metals, opium, spices, tea, sugarcane, palm and fossil fuel. Climate change being erroneously interpreted as a technical problem and could be resolved through investing in clean technology. However, the ubiquitous seeds of consumption, which lies at the core of modernism and capitalism, is never put under the scanner. One form of technology replaces another and the story of consumption moves on from one to another. The journey of Nutmeg from the far east Banda Islands to the 16th century Europe and making a fetish out of the spice creating unethical value is the story of modern-day high cost-commodities creating a class bias for any of the commoditisation of the consumption economy. ‘Tracing the threats to our future to the discovery of the New World and the sea route to the Indian Ocean, The Nutmeg’s Curse argues that the dynamics of climate change are rooted in a centuries-old geopolitical order constructed by Western colonialism’ (Ghosh, 2021).  more...