A Study On Amitav Ghosh’s Smokes And Ashes: A Journey From Colonialism To Modernity

Abstract

Smoke and Ashes is widely recognized as a seminal work on the enduring consequences of the colonial opium traffic, which encompassed a turbulent period that extended from Bengal to Boston and revolved around China and Britain. The comprehensive scope of this book extends from the beginning of time to the present. Violence, according to Ghosh, is eroding nation-states on a global scale, and poppies, which significantly influenced the development of modernity, may also contribute to its demise. In this scenario, fossil fuels and climate change will be opium's strongest allies. However, the book concludes in a sanguine fashion. In spite of the concerning indications, the historical trajectory of opium, according to Ghosh, offers a sanguine prospect for worldwide environmental movements. An instructive case could be the transnational, multiethnic, and multiracial coalition of civil society organizations that, notwithstanding the formidable resistance from the British Empire, effectively diminished the opium trade. This article serves as a companion or a revisit to this voyage.