The Great Derangement

Amitav Ghosh considers why societies have struggled to imagine and respond to global warming. He argues that fiction has helped shape the priorities and consumption patterns of the modern world while often failing to confront the realities of climate change.

The lecture connects stories of ordinary people and imperial histories with the cultural conditions of the climate crisis. Ghosh questions approaches that place responsibility only on individual conscience, arguing that the scale of the problem demands a collective response. His account asks how literature, public imagination and historical understanding can contribute to that response.