The Social Life of TEAK

TIM WEBSTER & VIRGINIA HENDERSON

Description

Tracing human interactions with the world’s most famous tropical timber species, The Social Life of Teak maps worlds revolving around teak forests, trees and wood.

What gives Tectona grandis such a powerful aura, stoking desires and capturing imaginations? How has teak shaped people’s lives, driving fortunes and impacting futures? What has happened to the teak forests of South and Southeast Asia and what is their destiny?

Charting the domestication of wilderness and exposing the era of extinction of a feted natural resource, this book seeks to stimulate conversations about our role as nature’s most troublesome offspring.

 Terrific… shapeshifting… I learned a lot.

Arjun Appadurai, Professor Emeritus, Media, Culture and Communication, New York University

Rich, fresh and moving. Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool, Director (retd),The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Bangkok

Amazing work, very fine-tuned. Many years of research and extensive fieldwork make this a most informative
and entertaining read. Excellent.

P.K. Thulasidas, Steering Committee Member of TEAKNET, former Principal Scientist & Head, Wood Science & Technology, Kerala Forest Research Institute