Paper short abstract:

Emphasising the resistance to colonial power and the Plantationocene, this paper illustrates how the survival of indigo practices (production and dyeing) can provide new ways of conceptualising planetary health.

Paper long abstract:

There is an increased awareness of the ecological damage and social inequalities associated with the garment industry. This extends not just to manufacturing but also to raw materials and processes. Textile dyes have received increased attention due to their toxicity to people, ecosystems, and colonial plantation histories. These narratives are highly linked to the Anthropocene, prioritising the Industrial Revolution/Great Acceleration as their starting point. With the concept of the Plantationocene, efforts have been made to complicate the narratives of planetary health by foregrounding the role of colonial plantations in shaping human relationships with nature. While the Plantationocene has been important in discussing planetary health in South Asia, it remains totalizing. It lacks in capturing the contextuality and the resistance (historic and ongoing) to colonial power within plantations.

In exploring the aspects of planetary health in the textile industry, this paper emphasises the understanding of the 'Plantationocene' by foregrounding practices of resistance to explore the dye ‘indigo’. As an important natural dye central to India's economy in pre-colonial and colonial periods, this paper synthesises historical, conceptual, and archival sources to explore how colonial plantation logic organised modern economies, indigenous knowledge, environments, bodies, and social relations. Drawing on case studies of artisanal textile production and indigo dyeing in India, I illustrate how the survival of the indigo practice provides new pathways for conceptualising the role of resistance in securing planetary health. Here, I argue for a collaborative framework bringing together activists, artisans, peasants, historians, and ethnographers to offer more situated Plantationocene narratives.