Asian history Books

Book SynopsisEmma J. Flatt shows the centrality of courtliness in the political and cultural life of the Deccan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. She argues that a shared courtly disposition facilitated travel, knowledge acquisition and encounters in the Persian-speaking world. This became a route to employment, worldly success and ethical refinement.Trade Review'The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates shifts the spotlight from South Asian kingship and rulers to the courtly environments they inhabited. Challenging Orientalist stereotypes of Indo-Muslim courts as mired in luxury and decadence, the book examines the courts of the early modern Deccan on their own terms, showing how the syncretic sensibilities and skills they cultivated accommodated the wide range of peoples who served in them. A marvellous achievement and a convincing exploration in historical anthropology.' Richard Eaton, University of Arizona'In this magisterial work, Emma J. Flatt skillfully opens up for us the 'black box' of Persianate court culture. Always recognized as important but never before theorized or understood in any detail, the social networks and bodily practices of Persianate courtly culture now stand illuminated in all their fascinating complexity.' Phillip B. Wagoner, Wesleyan University, ConnecticutTable of ContentsIntroduction: cosmopolitanism, courtliness and ethics in the Deccani Sultanates; Part I. Courtly Society: 1. Courtly disposition; 2. Networks, patrons and friends; 3. Courts, merchants and commodities; Part II. Courtly Skills: 4. Scribal skills; 5. Esoteric skills; 6. Martial skills; Concluding remarks.

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Book SynopsisA cross-disciplinary anthology on contemporary Kashmir by academics from Jammu and Kashmir, the first such volume to appear. The book offers a panorama of key cultural concerns of Jammu and Kashmir today, incorporating analysis of military, cultural, religious, and social aspects of the society and polity.Trade Review"In a recent tribute to her grandfather, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, the editor of this valuable collection of essays by academics from Kashmir and Jammu Universities (among others) recalls how, as a child of 10, she witnessed the visit Abdullah received on his deathbed from Indira Gandhi, who: 'tactfully expressed her concern for the stalwart leader against whom [Indira] and her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, had deployed every stratagem in the book and whose youth, idealism, passion and courage had been undermined by the unbridled power of the Indian state.' (Khan 2012, 2) This cameo portrait of Nyla Ali Khan's dying grandfather clearly haunts this book, as a remembrance intended to encourage readers 'to construct a politics that would enable the rebuilding of our pluralistic polity and society' since 'we cannot afford to lose yet another generation!' (Khan 2012, 4). This collection is an attempt to concretize the foundation for such a rebuilding by securing memories and traditions that, Ali Khan insists, set Jammu and Kashmir apart from the two nations insisting on their assimilation. The book displays the complexities of Kashmiri identity as an overlapping of the discourses of Kashmiriyat, Islam, Saivism and Su?sm: as, that is, a cultural syncretism from the very beginning that struggles today to resist any monolithic homogenization or arbitrary bifurcation that would serve simplistically and brutally as a ?nal solution. [ Khan] [ ] offers this fascinating chorus as an example of the pluralism and dynamism of Kashmiri society that years of militarization and consequent radicalization of the youth have not yet, she and her contributors argue, fully overcome." Journal of Postcolonial Writing "The collection, to its credit, attempts to bypass the simplistic and polarizing mainstream discourses that have hitherto dominated the conversation on Kashmir as an India-Pakistan problem. Instead, Ali Khan attempts to create a new conversation that is not state-centered, and is explicitly invested in theorizing and describing the regional as an autonomous, distinct and complex space that contains multiple and nuanced perspectives on life in Kashmir [. . .] For the non-specialist lay reader, this collection offers an invaluable view of the complexities of Kashmiri life, beyond the media headlines and sound-bytes of the contemporary moment. For the scholar of South Asia, it presents an opportunity to engage with local perspectives and analyses of what is often reductively described as 'the Kashmir problem.'" - South Asian Review, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2013 "In the last few years there has been a contest to appropriate and own the idea of Kashmiriyat and turn it to partisan advantage. Several of the essayists in the present volume note this, and their pieces refine our understanding of the term and its use and misuse in current discourse. [. . .] The contributions [. . .] emerge very directly from debates among people who have lived together for centuries and who are trying to find a basis to continue to do so [. . .] Strong regional traditions that transcend narrow religious boundaries are of course common across South Asia, but an understanding of the specific historical context in Kashmir helps us to understand why Kashmiriyat, in its various guises, has had such a strong hold on the popular imagination." Pakistaaniat, Fall 2013 "The Parchment of Kashmir is an impressively and suitably intricate representation of literate cultures in Kashmir. It is also the best available mosaic portrait of vibrant multilingual intellectualism and multicultural heritage in any region of Asia. It beautifully conveys the complexity of Kashmir's human composition at a crossroads of civilization and thus provides a supple foundation for subtle understandings of Kashmir's current political predicament." - David Ludden, professor of History, New York University "The Parchment of Kashmir is an important and timely book. By bringing together writers, scholars and other intellectuals in Kashmir to speak about the history, politics, culture and their lived experiences of the region, Nyla Ali Khan gives us a sense of the complexity of the 'Kashmir problem' from the perspective of those most deeply affected by it. The essays in this volume are invaluable as both analysis and testimony." - Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, Global Distinguished Professor, New York University "Conflicts are normal in politics but some of them do turn chronic and irreversible. Kashmir, once a small principality in South Asia trying to break out of the loving embrace of two large nation-states to forge a third one, has become a tragic spectre of itself. By the time its political fate gets decided, both the victorious and the defeated should emerge equally brutalised and ethically maimed. Nyla Khan has mobilised a courageous, diverse set of witnesses to tell the story as an open-ended one, without deodorising the smell of death that persists. It is a disturbing, but moving collection and a tribute not only to a culture's resilience but also to the editor's intellectual independence." - Ashis Nandy, Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies "This remarkable collection of essays about Kashmir brings to light both the resilience and plight of a beautiful and ancient region caught up in the politics of Pakistan and India. Nyla Ali Khan's astute selection of diverse authors to write for this elegant edition makes clear that stirring the pot of religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims has been a cunning strategy of divide and conquer . . . The tales in these richly informed essays are sad, but it is clear that democratic forces and resilience are still quite vital in Kashmir." - World Literature Today "Nyla Ali Khan's edited volume offers a panoramic view of Kashmir's landscape from the vantage points of Kashmiri scholars. These authors speak from multiple disciplinary voices, and address issues that span religion and culture, governance and polity, memory and identity. The volume is both a specific and necessary addition to broader studies on South Asia . . .[It] can clearly be seen to represent a few underrepresented topics within fields like South Asian history, literature, and religious studies." - Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial StudiesTable of ContentsPART I: CONSTRUCTIONS OF KASHMIRI IDENTITY WITHIN THE OVERLAPPING DISCOURSES OF KASHMIRIYAT, ISLAM, SAIVISM, SUFISM Evolution of my Identity vis-à-vis Islam and Kashmir - Mohammad Ishaq Khan Kashmiriyat: The Voice of the Past Misconstrued - Rattan Lal Hangloo PART II: CULTURAL SYNCRETISM AND DECONSTRUCTION OF A MONOLITHIC CULTURE Mystical Thought of Kashmir - M. H. Zaffar Syncretic Tradition and the Creative Life—Some Kashmiri Mystic Poets - Neerja Mattoo PART III: CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SOVEREIGNTY , DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE, AND REGIONAL STABILITY Democracy and Governance in Kashmir - Noor Ahmad Baba Political Assertion of Kashmiri Identity - Gull Mohammad Wani Kashmir in the Indian Project of Nationalism - Rekha Chowdhary PART IV: SOCIOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF CONFLICT, INSURGENCY, COUNTER INSURGENCY, MILITARIZATION, AND A MONOLITHIC NATIONALISM Sociological Dimensions and Implications of the Kashmir Problem - Bashir Ahmed Dabla PART V: REPRESENTATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION Politics of Exclusion - Hameeda Naeem

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Book SynopsisThis volume aims to advance our understanding of beauty's role in modern consumer societies by bringing together fresh scholarship that addresses a common set of questions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including especially history, but also black studies, women's studies, German studies, sociology, and anthropology.Trade Review'Chock full of useful information and marvelous counterintuitive insights alike, this spectacular collection demonstrates the enormous cultural and economic ramifications of the global pursuit of beauty. Ranging from Jewish pageant queens and the Nazi cosmetics industry through Kikuyu headshavings in Kenya, lipstick in Sumatra, and muscle-men in the postwar U.S. to Muslim male nose jobs in present-day Tehran, the essays scramble all our assumptions about what is traditional and what is modern. This is a fabulous and compelling book.' - Dagmar Herzog, Distinguished Professor, Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA, and author of Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History 'This volume reveals the centrality of beauty and appearance in modern societies, illuminating consumer cultures, technologies of the body, and concepts of identity and difference in the twentieth century. With topics ranging from cosmetics and soap to beauty pageants and plastic surgery, these excellent essays give particular insight into the tensions between the global expansion of Western beauty culture and the tenacity of local practices.' - Kathy Peiss, Nichols Professor of American History, University of Pennsylvania, USA, and author of Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme StyleTable of ContentsIntroduction: 'It Makes Princes of Those Who Have It': Beauty and Consumerism in the Twentieth Century; Hartmut Berghoff and Thomas Kühne PART I: BASIC DEVELOPMENTS AND KEY PROBLEMS 1. The Global and the Local in the Beauty Industry: A Historical Perspective; Geoffrey Jones 2. Consuming Bodies: The Commodification and Technification of Slenderness in the Twentieth Century; Ulrike Thoms 3. Medial Beauty: Three Sociological Theses on Late Modern Body Aesthetics; Michael R. Müller and Anne Sonnenmoser 4. The Harm in Beauty: Toni Morrison's Revisions of Racialized Traditional Theories of Aesthetics in The Bluest Eye; Althea Tait 5. Queer Beauty: Image and Acceptance in the Expanded Public Sphere; Jennifer V. Evans PART II: COSMOPOLITAN ATTEMPTS IN INTERWAR EUROPE 6. Miss Germany, Miss Europe, Miss Universe: Beauty Pageants in the Popular Media of the Weimar Republic; Mila Ganeva 7. Recognition for the 'Beautiful Jewess': Beauty Queens Crowned by Modern Jewish Print Media; Kerry Wallach 8. The Rise of Fashion Forecasting and Fashion Public Relations, 1920 1940: The History of Tobé and Bernays; Véronique Pouillard 9. 'The Beauty Soap of Film Stars': Lux Toilet Soap, Star Endorsements, and Building a Global Beauty Brand; Christina Burr 10. Beauty, Cosmetics, and Vernacular Ethnology in Weimar and Nazi Germany; Uta G. Poiger PART III: APPROPRIATIONS AND AGENCY IN AFRICA AND ASIA 11. Contesting Beauty Concepts in Precolonial and Colonial Kenya: Hierarchy, Resistance, and Identity; Christiane Reichart-Burikukiye 12. Imported Surgeries? Accounting for the Rise of Tehran's Nose-Job Industry; Sara Lenehan 13. Embodying Modernity: The Thrills and Ills of Being a Beautiful Woman in Tana Karo, North Sumatra; Karin Klenke

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Book SynopsisInvestigating the impact of Arabic medieval astrological and magical theories on early modern occult philosophy, this book argues that they provided a naturalistic explanation of astral influences and magical efficacy based on Aristotelian notions of causality.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Arabic Theories of Astral Influences: Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi 2. Arabic Theories of Astral Magic: The De radiis and the Picatrix 3. Textual and Intellectual Reception of Arabic Astral Theories in the Twelfth Century 4. Magic in the Thirteenth Century: Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon 5. Early Modern Astral Magic: Marsilio Ficino 6. True Magic and Astrology of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 7. The Magic and Astrology of John Dee 8. Celestial Souls and Cosmic Daemons Conclusion

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Book SynopsisTracing the lives of three exiled student leaders over two continents before and after the 1989 Tiananmen Uprising, this fascinating oral history explores how their political ideals were shaped by institutionalized education and social movements in China, led to action and punishment, and were revised under the challenges of exile.Trade Review'A moving and very personal account of life as a political emigrant...A convincing and powerful account of a central experience in contemporary Chinese life' -New York Review of Books by Ian Johnson 'Tiananmen Exiles is a brave book written eloquently, with controlled passion... [it is] a masterly narrative and analysis..[He's] often profound book is an unmistakable sign of her devotion to the cause' - The Spectator by Jonathan Mirsky 'Rowena He herself is an example of someone who has battled for years, sometimes in the face of angry criticism, to keep alive the memories of an idealism that emerged in full force in 1989. And she's determined not to let us forget.' -Christian Science Monitor by Dan Southerland "A compelling account of idealism and the price it exacts" - Kirkus 'Bold attempt to reclaim Chinese history from the state' -The Independent by Edward Wilson Tiananmen Exiles has organically tied the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen movement together through the lives and agonies of three former student leaders, and through them, the lives and struggles of their generation. Journal of East Asian Libraries by Zehao Zhou "Rowena He...courageously battles state-imposed amnesia, forcing us to remember the human cost of China's 1989" - The Daily Telegraph by Julia Lovell "Those who have chosen, or were forced by circumstances, not to live the official lie, including Rowena He, are condemned as traitors to China rather than as critics of the regime. For the three student leaders interviewed in her book, the events of 1989 and their subsequent exile created a permanent post-traumatic state. Much the same could be said of the nation they left behind, a nation that is waiting for the moment when the legacy of the tragedy suffered a quarter-century ago can be faced." - New Statesman by Isabel Hilton 'As long as the Communist Party continues to refuse to tolerate any conversation about June Fourth, it will only ensure that voices like Ms. He's echo even louder in the silence." - The Wall Street Journal Real Time by Maura Cunningham "Though China's democracy movement was crushed in the Tiananmen Massacre 25 years ago, the ideas that animated it are eternal. Rowena Xiaoqing He, one of the most courageous academics in the U.S., has written a powerful book that tracks the poignant journeys of three exiled activists and honors the sacrifices so many Chinese had to make in 1989 and after." - Adi Ignatius, Wall Street Journal Beijing Bureau Chief in 1989 and co-editor of Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang "This new book revives as well as preserves the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Movement in a quintessential way. Combining autobiographical and biographical approaches with psycho-cultural analysis, Rowena Xiaoqing He has ingeniously reconstructed the entire movement in historical perspective not only to unlock the past and explain the present but also to peer into the future of China's sustained struggle against totalitarian tyranny. This is also a deeply touching narrative that the reader will find difficult to lay down until reaching the last sentence." - Yu Ying-shih, Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies and History, Princeton University, and and winner of the John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity "Tiananmen Exiles rekindles our painful memories of those who paid dearly for their ideals. In this oral history project, Rowena Xiaoqing He captures the indomitable spirit of three student leaders forced into exile after the Tiananmen crackdown a quarter century ago. Their stories are powerful, moving, and inspirational." - Minxin Pei, Director, Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College and author of China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental AutocracyTable of ContentsTable of Content Foreword Acknowledgments Chronology Section One: Introduction Prologue Surviving 1989 Chapter 1 June 4: History and Memory in Exile Chapter 2 Seeds of Fire Section Two: Triumph and Trauma Chapter 3 On the Road: Yi Danxuan Chapter 4 No Direction Home: Shen Tong Chapter 5 Living Somewhere Else: Wang Dan Chapter 6 Romance and Revolution: Group Discussions Section Three: Conclusion Chapter 7 Citizenship in Exile Epilogue The Beginning of an End Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade, Circulation, and Flow in the Indian Ocean World is a collection which covers a long time span and diverse areas around the ocean.Trade Review“It is an excellent book, addressing critical questions in maritime history concerning its spatial substance and conceptualisation. … All the chapters are heavily annotated with rich bibliographies. … they rather provide a solid contribution to the rapidly growing corpus of literature on the Indian Ocean World and a creative point of departure for oceanic orientations to world history.” (David Ludden, The International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 29 (1), February, 2017) Table of Contents

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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