Indian male in his habitat

Book review of Patriarchy and the Pangolin: A Field Guide to Indian Men and Other Species

John Muir once said, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” As Aditi Patil tugs at nature, she finds it connected to a complex world shaped by gender norms, caste, and other unjust realities.  Patriarchy and the Pangolin follows Ms Patil and her co-researcher Manya Singh into rural Gujarat as they attempt to discern the pros and cons of the National Agroforestry Policy, 2014.

As they research, they “run into life” and find that “the greatest threat to pangolins and imperilled species [are] Indian men and patriarchy.” Ms Patil