Technological Hydroscapes in Asia: The Large Dams Debate Reconsidered -- Misplaced Knowledge: Large Dams as an Anatopism in South Asia -- Tibetan Water to Save China? -- Filling Multi-Purpose Reservoirs with Politics: Displacing the Modern Large Dam in India -- Dams, Riparian Settlement and the Threat of Climate Change in a Dynamic Fluvial Environment -- Environment in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Environmental Impact Assessment Follow-up in India -- Rivers, Dams and Landscapes Engaging with the Modern on Contested Grounds -- The Promotion of Dams through the Clean Development Mechanism: Between Sustainable Climate Protection and Carbon Colonialism.

This book explores the multi-dimensional asymmetries of scale, time, and directions in the large dam controversy with a regional focus on Asia, especially on India and China. Whereas the concept of large-scale transformation of fluvial environments into technological hydroscapes originated in the West, widespread construction of large dams started in the countries of the Global South in the period after decolonisation. Construction and operation of large dams are amongst the most prestigious but also most sensitive development issues, often accompanied by massive resistance of adversely affected people and civil society organisations. Based on the notion of a contested politicised environment, various case studies are analysed to identify the dominant narratives and imaginations that shape the large dams debate. This volume largely contains contributions related to several subprojects from within the Cluster of Excellence ‘Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows’, based at Heidelberg University, with several expert contributions from external researchers.