(no subject)

[skygiants]

A while back, lirazel posted about a bad book about an interesting topic -- Conspiracy Theories About Lemuria -- which apparently got most of its information from a scholarly text called The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories by Sumathi Ramaswamy.

Great! I said. I bet the library has that book, I'll read it instead of the bad one! which now I have done.

For those unfamiliar, for a while the idea of sunken land-bridges joining various existing landmasses was very popular in 19th century geology; Lemuria got its name because it was supposed to explain why there are lemurs in Madagascar and India but not anywhere else. Various other land-bridges were also theorized but Lemuria's the only one that got famous thanks to the catchy name getting picked up by various weird occultists (most notably Helena Blavatasky) and incorporated into their variably incomprehensible Theories of Human Origins, Past Paradises, Etc.

As is not unexpected, this book is a much more dense, scholarly, and theory-driven tome than the bad pop history that lirazel read. What was unexpected for me is that the author's scholarly interests focus on a.) cartography and b.) Tamil language and cultural politics, and so what she's most interested in doing is tracing how the concept of a Lemurian continent went from being an outdated geographic supposition to a weird Western occult fringe belief to an extremely mainstream, government-supported historical narrative in Tamil-speaking polities, where Lost Lemuria has become associated with the legendary drowned Tamil homeland of Tamilnāṭu and thus the premise for a claim that not only is the Lemurian continent the source of human origins but that specifically the Tamil language is the source language for humanity.

Not the book I expected to be reading! but I'm not at all mad about how things turned out! the prose is so dry that it was definite work to wade through but the rewards were real; the author has another whole book about Tamil language politics and part of me knows I am not really theory-brained enough for it at this time but the other part is tempted.

Also I did as well come out with a few snippets of the Weird Nonsense that I thought I was going in for! My favorite anecdote involves a woman named Gertrude Norris Meeker who wrote to the U.S. government in the 1950s claiming to be the Governor-General of Atlantis and Lemuria, ascertaining her sovereign right to this nonexistent territory, to which the State Department's Special Advisor on Geography had to write back like "we do not think that is true; this place does not exist." Eventually Gertrude Meeker got a congressman involved who also nobly wrote to the government on behalf of his constituent: "Mrs. Meeker understands that by renouncing her citizenship she could become Queen of these islands, but as a citizen she can rule as governor-general. [...] She states that she is getting ready to do some leasing for development work on some of these islands." And again the State Department was patiently like "we do not think that is true, as this place does not exist." Subsequently they seem to have developed a "Lemuria and Atlantis are not real" form letter which I hope and trust is still being used today.

Comments

[redbird]

And again the State Department was patiently like "we do not think that is true, as this place does not exist." Subsequently they seem to have developed a "Lemuria and Atlantis are not real" form letter which I hope and trust is still being used today.

This is as delightful as the fact that the government has issued an official opinion that nuking hurricanes would be a bad idea.

[skygiants]

Sometimes you just need someone to say it on formal letterhead.

[redbird]

The Boston Public Library has one copy of this book, currently checked out; I added it to my "for later" list.

[skygiants]

well, I just returned it to that very system this morning so as soon as they process it, I bet it's all yours! 😂

[sovay]

an extremely mainstream, government-supported historical narrative in Tamil-speaking polities, where Lost Lemuria has become associated with the legendary drowned Tamil homeland of Tamilnāṭu and thus the premise for a claim that not only is the Lemurian continent the source of human origins but that specifically the Tamil language is the source language for humanity.

Whoa.

[skygiants]

It is so fascinating the way ideas run around the world ... I love to see what sticks to them as they go. Never what you expect.

[sovay]

It is so fascinating the way ideas run around the world ... I love to see what sticks to them as they go. Never what you expect.

I know a decent amount about drowned continents and had entirely missed this contemporary manifestation! I appreciate the heads-up! I can offer in return this poem (not mine) about Doggerland.

[conuly]

I am familiar with weirdo Tamil nationalists, but I didn't realize they did Lemuria too!

[ethelmay]

Tamilemuria rolls off the tongue, but unfortunately it sounds like a disease. Our Man in Tularemia.

[chestnut_pod]

The connection with Tamil Nadu is wholly new to me, wow. That's unexpected for sure.

[skygiants]

Ramaswamy takes several chapters to carefully point out how having geological-scientific backing (from the 19th century) was valuable for the claim, hence the link to Lemuria, and then ends her last chapter like 'which I think is simply too bad because as long as everyone is sticking to claims around scientific and historical legitimacy no one is taking the opportunity to seriously imagine utopia! we could just be doing that instead!'

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Well, there are a lot of sunken land bridges, because in an ice age, a lot of the planet's water gets locked up in ice caps, exposing more land. When it melts, the lower land areas flood. So for instance, Berengia became the Bering Strait.

Just not everywhere humans thought.

Re: Thoughts

[skygiants]

I was not super familiar with a lot of the history tracing shifts in scientific thought around geology and found that very interesting as well!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Science history is fascinating. Forensic geology is also really cool. I recommend looking YouTube for videos about the history of continental drift, geologic changes, climate change, rising-falling sea levels, and the effects those have had on evolution in general and humans in particular. Curiosity Stream has some particularly good stuff.

[pauraque]

Ahh, I was going to add this to my list when I read lirazel's post, but I forgot! Thank you!

[skygiants]

that was one of the few times I remembered to go immediately from DW to my library holds!

[marginaliana]

It's not that I want to make life more difficult for the US government at the moment (/complicated tone indicator) but I really would love to read that form letter as it currently exists.

[skygiants]

I KNOW. trying to figure out the exact right level of "I think you need to respond to me, as King of Lemuria," that would actually trigger the response --

[sheliak]

I want to see the "Lemuria and Atlantis are not real" form letter so badly.

As it is my googling did turn up this excerpt from the letter back (which the site seems to have gotten from this book) and I am seriously tempted to icon it.

‘in the conduct of the foreign relations of this Government, the Department of State does not recognize any so-called ‘private Dynasty or Principality named Atlantis Kaj Lemuria.’

https://amitavghosh.com/letter-from-lemuria/

[meteordust]

This sounds really fascinating! I'll have to look out for a copy.

If you're interested in other books about sunken lands, I liked Worlds in Shadow: Submerged Lands in Science, Myth and Memory by Patrick Nunn.

[osprey_archer]

Subsequently they seem to have developed a "Lemuria and Atlantis are not real" form letter which I hope and trust is still being used today.

Truly I hope this is a thing.

Anyway, this book sounds fascinating in a completely unexpected way! Come for the cultists, stay for the unexpected Tamil language politics.

[lirazel]

Oh interesting!!! I'm so glad you managed to track it down! I'm fascinated by the Tamil connection, which I knew nothing about!

I do hope someone someday writes a good popular book about Lemuria conspiracy theories though, because it really is just so incredibly interesting!


Subsequently they seem to have developed a "Lemuria and Atlantis are not real" form letter which I hope and trust is still being used today.

Incredible. I love knowing this.