Asian history Books
University of Washington Press History and Collective Memory in South Asia
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Guha’s expertise in early modern Indian history allows him to explore “social structure and historical narration in western India” in great depth." * Journal of Asian Studies *"Guha brings together sources from a range of languages and regions toprovide the rst intellectual history of the ways in which socially recognized historicalmemory has been made across the subcontinent. This thoughtful study contributes todebates beyond the eld of history that complicate the understanding of objectivityand documentation in a seemingly post-truth world." * New Books in South Asian Studies *"Guha’s book comes at a time when the authority of specialist historians is increasingly under challenge, while the gap between academic and public history seems larger and more in open conflict than ever. Through meticulous presentation of how the practice of history writing is shaped by the social-political context of the recording agents, Guha problematises the view that history writing can be seen as an autonomous cognitive practice of a specialised group." * South Asia Research *"[D]evelops important arguments about the public significance of historical knowledge and the essential role of historians in public life." * History and Theory *"[O]ffers the most recent reflection on historiography, history, and memory by a leader in the discipline of South Asian history. Given publications spanning a range of topics in South Asian history, such as caste in social and cultural history, environmental history, health and population history, and agrarian history, Guha gives a veteran practitioner’s perspective on history and memory in South Asian history." * South Asian History and Culture *"[A] welcome addition to the burgeoning scholarship around the practices of history writing in India and its relationship with the public sphere." * Contemporary South Asia *"[E]xtraordinary scholarship." * H-Asia (H-Net) *
£999.99
University of Washington Press Making the Modern Slum
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Making the Modern Slum: The Power of Capital in Colonial Bombay seems like a book written to explain precisely this moment. It asks: how can we understand the relationship between “the city” and its laboring poor? This book is a must read for everyone interested in urban, housing, and economic justice, as well as for scholars of South Asia concerned with the subcontinent’s enduring inequalities." * New Books in South Asia (NBN) *"[A] searing reminder of the long history of urban dependence on migrant labor in India." * Dissent *"Chhabria makes key contributions to our understanding of urban histories that are relevant not just for historians but for many who are interested in more contemporary urban planning issues." * South Asian History and Culture *"It is a forceful, passionate, and well-researched challenge to our assumption that cities predate urbanism, and its relevance extends well beyond the “limits” of Bombay." * Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians *"[I]nvaluable reading for scholars of South Asia and for anyone interested in “slums” in the Global South." * Journal of Asian Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Eulogy for Burying a Crane and the Art of Chinese
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This book is a detailed study of an important artwork and an essential read for scholars interested in the history of Chinese calligraphy." * China Review International *"[A] thought-provoking and accessible study of one of the most interesting works of calligraphy in the Chinese canon." * Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS) *
£58.00
University of Washington Press Chinese Funerary Biographies
Book SynopsisTens of thousands of epitaphs, or funerary biographies, survive from imperial China. Engraved on stone and placed in a grave, they typically focus on the deceased's biography and exemplary words and deeds, expressing the survivors' longing for the dead. These epitaphs provide glimpses of the lives of women, men who did not leave a mark politically, and childrenpeople who are not well documented in more conventional sources such as dynastic histories and local gazetteers. This anthology of translations makes available funerary biographies covering nearly two thousand years, from the Han dynasty through the nineteenth century, selected for their value as teaching material for courses in Chinese history, literature, and women's studies as well as world history. Because they include revealing details about personal conduct, families, local conditions, and social, cultural, and religious practices, these epitaphs illustrate ways of thinking and the realities of daily life. Most can be reaTrade Review"[T]his anthology of remembered lives presents fascinating stories that will reveal to any reader how vivid and interesting tomb biographies can be." * Monumenta Serica *"[A]n innovative and important publication." * China Review International *"[A]n indispensable sourcebook for scholars, students, and general readers of Chinese history and culture." * Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews *"[A] fantastic contribution to the resources for teaching premodern Chinese women's history and social history, and it will undoubtedly stimulate additional research and use of funeral biographies." * Journal of the American Oriental Society *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Chinese Funerary Biographies
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[T]his anthology of remembered lives presents fascinating stories that will reveal to any reader how vivid and interesting tomb biographies can be." * Monumenta Serica *"[A]n innovative and important publication." * China Review International *"[A]n indispensable sourcebook for scholars, students, and general readers of Chinese history and culture." * Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews *"[A] fantastic contribution to the resources for teaching premodern Chinese women's history and social history, and it will undoubtedly stimulate additional research and use of funeral biographies." * Journal of the American Oriental Society *
£33.98
University of Washington Press The Snow Leopard and the Goat
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Hussain provides context on the animal (the snow leopard) and the area (mountainous Baltistan) in question by examining how both Islam and residual traces of Bon, the area’s now extinct pre-Islam religion, influence local attitudes. . . . Readers interested in animal conservation will find much to ponder in this thoughtful study." * Publishers Weekly *"[A] fascinating account of snow leopard con-servation in Baltistan... Shafqat’s dissection of conservation discourse exposes the inverse cor-relation between resource distribution and responsibilities in conservation." * Journal of Anthropological Research *"[A] breath of fresh air, suggesting room for optimism amidst the gloom of despairing writing on the snow leopard." * Conservation and Society *"The theoretically dense and historically rich chapters provide a nuanced understanding of how the life of the snow leopard is intertwined with the life of the goat and other livestock that are kept by the poor Balti herders in open corrals to meet their everyday nutritional needs... Shafqat Hussain’s careful analysis invites us to consider the agentivity of this elegant predator in harsh remote terrains, and by combining empirical evidence and scientific analyses, explains how domestic livestock continue to sustain the numbers of this vulnerable cat in the wild." * Pacific Affairs *"Carefully documenting the history of the snow leopard and its trade around the world, evaluating the science asso-ciated with snow leopard conservation and its uncertainties, and contextualizing it with rich ethnographic work, Hussain makes an important contribution to highlight the challenges and dynamics of operationalizing global conservation priorities at the local level." * Journal of Asian Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press China Gothic
Book SynopsisAs China struggled to redefine itself at the turn of the twentieth century, nationalism, religion, and material culture intertwined in revealing ways. This phenomenon is evident in the twin biographies of North China's leading Catholic bishop of the time, Alphonse Favier (18371905), and the Beitang cathedral, epicenter of the Roman Catholic mission in China through incarnations that began in 1701. After its relocation and reconstruction under Favier's supervision, the cathedraland Faviermiraculously survived a two-month siege in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. Featuring a French Gothic Revival design augmented by Chinese dragonshaped gargoyles, marble balustrades in the style of Daoist and Buddhist temples, and other Chinese aesthetic flourishes, Beitang remains an icon of Sino-Western interaction. Anthony Clark draws on archival materials from the Vatican and collections in France, Italy, China, Poland, and the United States to trace the prominent role of French architecture in intTrade Review"Clark’s book represents a valuable contribution in presenting the life and work of perhaps the most important Catholic bishop in nineteenth-century China" * Monumenta Serica *"[S]heds new light on an otherwise understudied era of architectural production in imperial China. The importance of the book lies in Clark's extensive archival work, which has yielded new textual and visual evidence of missionary-related activities in Qing China." * Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians *"Clark connects scholarship on architecture with the political history of modern China. Broadly mobilizing secondary sources from political, missionary, and architectural studies, the book provides an account that largely harmonises with established historical narratives." * Architecture Beyond Europe *"Clark’s groundbreaking book delivers a pathway by which to approach China’s “century of humiliation” through piecing together Favier’s personal career, his long-forgotten architecture, and Sino-European conflicts... enriches our nuanced understanding of the nature of the Sino-European conflicts." * East Asian Science Technology and Medicine *"[P]aints a vivid picture of the intricate relationships between Catholic missionaries in China and the local community... a most valuable contribution to colonial studies, architectural history, and Sino-Western interactions. [Clark] has...paved the way for what has enormous potential for further discussion and research." * Religious Studies Review *"Examining Favier’s influence on the “fate of late-imperial China,” Clark’s monograph weaves an engaging narrative of his missionary career in China into the macrohistory of the Sino-Western cultural and political interactions. By focusing on Gothic architecture as Favier’s means for cultural and religious diplomacy, the book provides us with a unique angle to relate Gothic architecture to his Eurocentrism and French nationalism; and the vivid description of the Gothic features in Beitang and his other Catholic churches lends strength to the theme of the book." * Chinese Historical Review *
£47.50
University of Washington Press International Impact of Colonial Rule in Korea
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A]n original addition to the scholarship on colonial Korea." * Choice *"Given that the interpretation of Korean history during the Japanese colonial period has been colored far more by domestic and international political rather than academic concerns, this book, which broadens the scope of the historical discussion of Japanese colonialism into the international context, is a valuable addition to the field." * Acta Koreana *"[This] volume makes a compelling case for the importance of the “Korea issue” on the international stage." * Pacific Affairs *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Yumeji Modern
Book SynopsisThe hugely popular Japanese artist Takehisa Yumeji (18841934) is an emblematic figure of Japan's rapidly changing cultural milieu in the early twentieth century. His graphic works include leftist and antiwar illustrations in socialist bulletins, wrenching portrayals of Tokyo after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and fashionable images of beautiful womenreferred to as Yumeji-style beautiesin books and magazines that targeted a new demographic of young female consumers. Yumeji also played a key role in the reinvention of the woodblock medium. As his art and designs proliferated in Japan's mass media, Yumeji became a recognizable brand. In the first full-length English-language study of Yumeji's work, Nozomi Naoi examines the artist's role in shaping modern Japanese identity. Addressing his output from the start of his career in 1905 to the 1920s, when his productivity peaked, Yumeji Modern introduces for the first time in English translation a substantial body of Yumeji's texts, inTrade Review"Naoi’s book is both an outstanding and accessible art history book." * New Books in East Asian Studies (NBN) *"Impeccably researched, with copious notes and an invaluable bibliography, this book is required reading for those interested in Japanese art and culture." * Choice *"Naoi’s book should establish Yumeji in the English-reading world as one of the most salient creators and personalities of his time... That this most elusive of figures nevertheless remains so in many ways suggests that Yumeji needs several more studies at least. Nozomi Naoi has achieved the laudable goal of launching this endeavorfor scholars writing in English." * Monumenta Nipponica *
£78.14
University of Washington Press Citizens of Beauty
Book SynopsisIn the early twentieth century China's most famous commercial artists promoted new cultural and civic values through sketches of idealized modern women in journals, newspapers, and compendia called One Hundred Illustrated Beauties. This genre drew upon a centuries-old tradition of books featuring illustrations of women who embodied virtue, desirability, and Chinese cultural values, and changes in it reveal the foundational value shifts that would bring forth a democratic citizenry in the post-imperial era. The illustrations presented ordinary readers with tantalizing visions of the modern lifestyles that were imagined to accompany Republican China's new civic consciousness. Citizens of Beauty is the first book to explore the One Hundred Illustrated Beauties in order to compare social ideals during China's shift from imperial to Republican times. The book contextualizes the social and political significance of the aestheticized female body in a rapidly changing genre, showing how progTrade Review"Clearly written and delightfully illustrated, this study is an excellent resource for Chinese history and women’s studies classes." * Choice *"Writing in brisk and engrossing prose, Louise Edwards... presents an important opportunity to consider how gendered bodies carried the burden of the diverse roles and the desire for recognition within an emerging public sphere." * China Review International *"[T]his slim volume packs a powerful punch…Citizens of Beauty is brilliantly conceived, coherently organized, and lucidly presented…It is a true pleasure to read, for general and specialized audiences alike. The book provides a lucid window into modern Chinese history and covers a range of important topics, including but not limited to visual representations of women, transformation of political culture, and processes of modernization." * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Circulating the Code
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Circulating the Code is a beautiful combination of legal history and print culture history... Wonderfully detailed, lucidly written, and packed full of fascinating books, this is a must-read for anyone interested in legal history, the history of the book, and in thinking about comparative histories of print culture and commercial publishing." * New Books in Law (NBN) *"This lucid and fascinating study will appeal to anyone interested in legal history." * Choice *"[A] substantial and highly readable contribution to scholarship on law in early modern China." * Journal of Chinese History *"[L]ate imperial historians will be grateful to Ting Zhang for showing how two vital fields of late imperial history, legal studies and book history, can instruct one another inprovocative ways." * Journal of Chinese Studies *"[A] solid academic contribution that will have substantial impact on the study of Chinese legal history for many years to come." * East Asian Publishing and Society *"[A] must-read for scholars interested in the production and circulation of legal knowledge, popular reading culture, and commercial publishing history in late imperial China. Through the lens of legal culture and book history, Circulating the Code challenges an “orientalist” view on Chinese history and demonstrates that legal consciousness existed and thrived among various groups in late imperial China." * China Review International *
£33.98
University of Washington Press Circulating the Code
Book SynopsisContrary to longtime assumptions about the insular nature of imperial China's legal system, Circulating the Code demonstrates that in the Qing dynasty (16441911) most legal books were commercially published and available to anyone who could afford to buy them. Publishers not only extended circulation of the dynastic code and other legal texts but also enhanced the judicial authority of case precedents and unofficial legal commentaries by making them more broadly available in convenient formats. As a result, the laws no longer represented privileged knowledge monopolized by the imperial state and elites. Trade in commercial legal imprints contributed to the formation of a new legal culture that included the free flow of accurate information, the rise of nonofficial legal experts, a large law-savvy population, and a high litigation rate. Comparing different official and commercial editions of the Qing Code, popular handbooks for amateur legal practitioners, and manuals for community leTrade Review"Circulating the Code is a beautiful combination of legal history and print culture history... Wonderfully detailed, lucidly written, and packed full of fascinating books, this is a must-read for anyone interested in legal history, the history of the book, and in thinking about comparative histories of print culture and commercial publishing." * New Books in Law (NBN) *"This lucid and fascinating study will appeal to anyone interested in legal history." * Choice *"[A] substantial and highly readable contribution to scholarship on law in early modern China." * Journal of Chinese History *"[L]ate imperial historians will be grateful to Ting Zhang for showing how two vital fields of late imperial history, legal studies and book history, can instruct one another inprovocative ways." * Journal of Chinese Studies *"[A] solid academic contribution that will have substantial impact on the study of Chinese legal history for many years to come." * East Asian Publishing and Society *"[A] must-read for scholars interested in the production and circulation of legal knowledge, popular reading culture, and commercial publishing history in late imperial China. Through the lens of legal culture and book history, Circulating the Code challenges an “orientalist” view on Chinese history and demonstrates that legal consciousness existed and thrived among various groups in late imperial China." * China Review International *
£110.48
University of Washington Press A Fashionable Century
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Fashionable Century is not only deft in its writing and visual analysis, but this well-written book is itself a beautiful object." * New Books in East Asian Studies (NBN) *"[R]eaders with passion about China and women’s fashions in the late Qing dynasty will get a lot out of this book. The book’s contribution to the discussions about the changes in China’s society, economy, and culture during the nineteenth century is vital and goes far beyond classic scholar literature." * Journal of Dress History *"[M]eticulously researched, carefully argued, and beautifully illustrated." * Journal of Chinese History *"An important contribution to the study of art and society in the late Qing...[B]ut because Silberstein [is] breaking new methodological ground, [this] work should be of interest beyond the bounds of China studies. It is to be hoped that readers interested in fashion history in other parts of the world will read and learn from this book and its innovative approach." * Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS) *"An indispensable resource for Qing fashion and material culture." * NAN NÜ *"Pioneering... Take[s] the reader deep into some little-known areas of late Qing society." * Etudes Chinoises *
£78.14
University of Washington Press Korean Skilled Workers
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[O]ffers a fascinating and rich historical analysis of South Korea’s class of skilled workers and their role in the country’s heavy and chemical industrialization (HCI) programme." * European Journal of Korean Studies *"Kim’s book is essential reading for historians and social scientists of modern Korea, and it could be useful as a course material pertaining to the political economy of labor and development of postwar East Asia. The fruits of Kim’s own labors found here will surely reward the inquiry of anyone seeking a fresh perspective beyond benchmark models of the developmental state and searching for deeper insights into the significant indigenous factors at work in South Korea’s rapid industrialization and socio-political transformation." * Journal of Social History *"This book will be useful to students and scholars who are interested in economic development, class politics, labor movements, and labor-management relations in Korea. Undoubtedly the story of Korean HCI workers’ changing sociopolitical trajectory will present a fresh perspective on the story of Korea’s remarkable economic and national development." * Asian Ethnology *"[A] fascinating historical analysis of the creation of Korea’s first generation of skilled HCI workers and the transformation of their sociopolitical trajectory...This book will be useful to students and scholars who are interested in economic development, class politics, labor movements, and labor-management relations in Korea." * Asian Ethnology *"Deeply researched, brimming with interesting and useful historical information, and full of insight." * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Fir and Empire
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Miller’s monograph, supported by solid evidence and compelling arguments, enables the reader to explore this long arc of Chinese civilization from the unique perspective of environmental history." * Choice *"Offers a transformation of our understanding of China’s early modern environmental history. . . a sweeping book. . . not only tells a story that will have wide impacts for the field, but manages to create an intimate look at what China’s forest management system looked like to those trying to operate and profit from it." * New Books in East Asian Studies (NBN) *"The concisely written chapters are packed with period surveys and local vignettes, which give this relatively short book considerable depth." * Agricultural History *"Miller has provided both historians of China and the environment with valuable new perspectives and a wealth of information." * H-Environment *"With clear prose, detailed maps, and ink brush paintings from primary sources, the book is a pleasure to read. Two appendices explaining the research methods and sources will find an eager audience among graduate students and other researchers. Undergraduates will appreciate carefully selected excerpts. All will apprehend that thisbook establishes new standards for scholarship on the long history of humans and forests in China." * Environmental History *"Ian M. Miller’s important book...has opened up a fascinating area of research and it invites exploration by many more adventurous scholar-pioneers." * Journal of Chinese History *"Fir and Empire provides a broad, long-term understanding of forest management, contextualized and compared with practices in Europe and in dialogue with Asian environmental history. It will change the way scholars understand Chinese environmental history and particularly the role of the state... This impressive book can and should reach a wide audience of readers." * H-Asia (H-Net) *"Miller's Fir and Empire is a richly detailed study of private and governmental forest management from the northern Song to early Qing (ca. 1000–1650s), based on careful and extensive reading of gazettes and other primary sources." * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *"Ian M. Miller's Fir and Empire admirably challenges the currently well-established narrative of China's Great Deforestation through an imaginative and meticulous survey of historical evidence…[The book] demonstrates how a rigorous and creative approach to historical evidence can yield new and exciting findings that profoundly change our understanding of the past." * British Journal for the History of Science *
£32.00
University of Washington Press The Ends of Kinship
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] beautifully rendered account of a community in flux, caught in the interstices between the remote, high-altitude landscapes of windswept Mustang and the bustling, multi-cultural cityscapes of New York City." * New Books Network (NBN) *"The humanity underpinning The Ends of Kinship and the beauty of its writing are bound to inspire new scholars whose motivations for entering the discipline are not strictly intellectual; those looking for an ‘anthropology of care’ need look no further." * Social Anthropology *"This book will hold the attention of anyone interested in Nepal, migration, or diasporic experiences. It is complex yet accessible." * IIAS Newsletter (International Institute for Asian Studies) *"[A] refreshing mixed-genre narrative about mobility and migration. Craig not only mixes and merges the two writing styles offiction and ethnography, she also makes the subjects of her ethnographic research come alive, just like the characters in herfictional stories." * Journal of Asian Studies *"[A] remarkable ethnography of connection across geographical, temporal, socio-cultural, political, and economic borders." * HIMALAYA: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies *"[T]he chapters rebound off each other, and together provide striking image of kinship in migration and change. The effect is impressive. The fiction is as ethnographically real as the ethnography is literarily true. This is a gorgeous book, one that is hard to put down, one that I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone at all, and a book which I think conveys the power of kinship in a manner that anyone will be able to tap into, that anyone can relate to." * Kinship *"Very accessible for undergraduates in anthropology, Asian studies, or Asian American studies, this book also presents an important model for how we might engage in ethical and practical ethnography in the twenty-first century." * Journal of Asian Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press The Ends of Kinship
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] beautifully rendered account of a community in flux, caught in the interstices between the remote, high-altitude landscapes of windswept Mustang and the bustling, multi-cultural cityscapes of New York City." * New Books Network (NBN) *"The humanity underpinning The Ends of Kinship and the beauty of its writing are bound to inspire new scholars whose motivations for entering the discipline are not strictly intellectual; those looking for an ‘anthropology of care’ need look no further." * Social Anthropology *"This book will hold the attention of anyone interested in Nepal, migration, or diasporic experiences. It is complex yet accessible." * IIAS Newsletter (International Institute for Asian Studies) *"[A] refreshing mixed-genre narrative about mobility and migration. Craig not only mixes and merges the two writing styles offiction and ethnography, she also makes the subjects of her ethnographic research come alive, just like the characters in herfictional stories." * Journal of Asian Studies *"[A] remarkable ethnography of connection across geographical, temporal, socio-cultural, political, and economic borders." * HIMALAYA: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies *"[T]he chapters rebound off each other, and together provide striking image of kinship in migration and change. The effect is impressive. The fiction is as ethnographically real as the ethnography is literarily true. This is a gorgeous book, one that is hard to put down, one that I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone at all, and a book which I think conveys the power of kinship in a manner that anyone will be able to tap into, that anyone can relate to." * Kinship *"Very accessible for undergraduates in anthropology, Asian studies, or Asian American studies, this book also presents an important model for how we might engage in ethical and practical ethnography in the twenty-first century." * Journal of Asian Studies *
£33.98
University of Washington Press The Power of the Brush
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Through the lens of epistolary practice, The Power of the Brush revisits many important issues required for a critical understanding of late Choson society." * The Seoul Journal of Korean Studies *"Well illustrated with relevant examples of letters, and including helpful tabulations, this study covers an enormous range of historical and political experience, bravely attempting to compare Korean and other societies’ letter writers, as well as the persistence of letter petitions in modern South Korea." * Journal of Asian Studies *"Hwisang Cho's book is a welcome addition to a nascent body of English-language scholarship on the study of Korean letters and provides vital insight into how epistolary practice in sixteenth-century Chosŏn spurred sociocultural and political change." * Acta Koreana *"The Power of the Brush further enriches the understanding of Chosŏn elite’s political epistolary writing…[O]ur understanding of premodern Korean humanities would be incomplete without this book." * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *"This book, with its rich content and detailed historical information, discusses the social and political situation of Chosŏn Korea in terms of epistolary practice and thereby provides a new window into Korean culture." * Religious Studies Review *
£110.48
University of Washington Press The Power of the Brush Epistolary Practices in
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Through the lens of epistolary practice, The Power of the Brush revisits many important issues required for a critical understanding of late Choson society." * The Seoul Journal of Korean Studies *"Well illustrated with relevant examples of letters, and including helpful tabulations, this study covers an enormous range of historical and political experience, bravely attempting to compare Korean and other societies’ letter writers, as well as the persistence of letter petitions in modern South Korea." * Journal of Asian Studies *"Hwisang Cho's book is a welcome addition to a nascent body of English-language scholarship on the study of Korean letters and provides vital insight into how epistolary practice in sixteenth-century Chosŏn spurred sociocultural and political change." * Acta Koreana *"The Power of the Brush further enriches the understanding of Chosŏn elite’s political epistolary writing…[O]ur understanding of premodern Korean humanities would be incomplete without this book." * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *"This book, with its rich content and detailed historical information, discusses the social and political situation of Chosŏn Korea in terms of epistolary practice and thereby provides a new window into Korean culture." * Religious Studies Review *
£33.98
University of Washington Press South Asian Filmscapes
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction. Transregional Archives, Cinematic Encounters: Filmscapes across South Asia Elora Halim Chowdhury and Esha Niyogi De Part I: Nations and Regional Margins 1.) National Identity and Cinematic Representation: Independent Films in Bangladesh Fahmidul Haq 2.) Female Friendship and Forbidden Desire: Two Films from 1960s Pakistan Kamran Asdar Ali 3.) Bringing Back Sikhs after the 1984 Pogrom: The Politics of Picturization in Hindi Cinema Amit Ranjan 4.) Silencing Films from the Chittagong Hill Tracts: Indigenous Cinema’s Challenge to the Imagined Cultural Homogeneity of Bangladesh Glen Hill and Kabita Chakma 5.) Pakistan, History, and Sleep: Hassan Tariq, a Progressive Patriarch, and Neend Nasreen Rehman Part II: Transregional Crossings 6.) The Public in the Cities: Detouring through Cinemas of Bombay, Calcutta, and Lahore (1920s–1930s) Madhuja Mukherjee 7.) Cross-Wing Filmmaking: East Pakistani Urdu Films and Their Traces in the Bangladesh Film Archive Lotte Hoek 8.) Action Heroines and Regional Gifts: Authorship Crossing Pakistan Esha Niyogi De 9.) Realism and Region in South Indian Cinemas, 1947–1977 Hariprasad Athanickal 10.) "This Is London, Not Pakistan!": Articulations of the Diaspora in Pakistani Punjabi Film Gwendolyn S. Kirk 11.) The Birth of a Cinema in Post-9/11 Pakistan Zebunnisa Hamid Part III: Fractured Geographies, South Connectivities 12.) Zahir Raihan's Stop Genocide (1971): A Dialectical Cinematic Message to the World Fahmida Akhter 13.) Gender, War, and Resistance: The Case of Kashmir Alka Kurian 14.) Cinema That Raises a Critical Consciousness: The Films of Alamgir Kabir Naadir Junaid 15.) Ethical Encounters: Friendship and Healing in Contemporary Films about the Bangladesh Liberation War Elora Halim Chowdhury Contributors Index
£110.48
University of Washington Press South Asian Filmscapes
Book SynopsisNew political realities and shared histories connect film cultures across bordersIn South Asia massive anticolonial movements in the twentieth century created nation-states and reset national borders, forming the basis for emerging film cultures. Following the upheaval of the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, new national cinemas promoted and reinforced prevailing hierarches of identity and belonging. At the same time, industrial and independent cinemas contributed to remarkably porous and hybrid film cultures, reflecting the intertwining of South Asian histories and their reciprocal cultural influences. This cross-fertilization within South Asian cultural production continues today. South Asian Filmscapes excavates these complex politics and poetics of bordered identity and crossings through selected histories of cinema in South Asia. Several essays reveal ways in which fixed notions of national identity have been destabilized by the Table of ContentsIntroduction. Transregional Archives, Cinematic Encounters: Filmscapes across South Asia Elora Halim Chowdhury and Esha Niyogi De Part I: Nations and Regional Margins 1.) National Identity and Cinematic Representation: Independent Films in Bangladesh Fahmidul Haq 2.) Female Friendship and Forbidden Desire: Two Films from 1960s Pakistan Kamran Asdar Ali 3.) Bringing Back Sikhs after the 1984 Pogrom: The Politics of Picturization in Hindi Cinema Amit Ranjan 4.) Silencing Films from the Chittagong Hill Tracts: Indigenous Cinema’s Challenge to the Imagined Cultural Homogeneity of Bangladesh Glen Hill and Kabita Chakma 5.) Pakistan, History, and Sleep: Hassan Tariq, a Progressive Patriarch, and Neend Nasreen Rehman Part II: Transregional Crossings 6.) The Public in the Cities: Detouring through Cinemas of Bombay, Calcutta, and Lahore (1920s–1930s) Madhuja Mukherjee 7.) Cross-Wing Filmmaking: East Pakistani Urdu Films and Their Traces in the Bangladesh Film Archive Lotte Hoek 8.) Action Heroines and Regional Gifts: Authorship Crossing Pakistan Esha Niyogi De 9.) Realism and Region in South Indian Cinemas, 1947–1977 Hariprasad Athanickal 10.) "This Is London, Not Pakistan!": Articulations of the Diaspora in Pakistani Punjabi Film Gwendolyn S. Kirk 11.) The Birth of a Cinema in Post-9/11 Pakistan Zebunnisa Hamid Part III: Fractured Geographies, South Connectivities 12.) Zahir Raihan's Stop Genocide (1971): A Dialectical Cinematic Message to the World Fahmida Akhter 13.) Gender, War, and Resistance: The Case of Kashmir Alka Kurian 14.) Cinema That Raises a Critical Consciousness: The Films of Alamgir Kabir Naadir Junaid 15.) Ethical Encounters: Friendship and Healing in Contemporary Films about the Bangladesh Liberation War Elora Halim Chowdhury Contributors Index
£35.26
University of Washington Press Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian
Book SynopsisTrade Review"James Staples charts how cattle owners, brokers, butchers, cooks, and occasional beef eaters navigate the contemporary political and cultural climate. Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian offers a fine-grained exploration of the current situation, locating it within the wider anthropology offood and eating in the region and revealing critical aspects of what it is to be Indian inthe early twenty-first century." * New Books in Anthropology *"Staples ushers us beyond binaries and into the lives of everyday eaters whose thoughts and politics rarely fall neatly into any standardized categories." * HIMALAYA: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies *"[E]ssential reading on food politics in South India." * The Wire *"Through a detailed examination of the ways in which people negotiate the politics of eating meat in their everyday lives, Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian calls attention to the ambiguities, contradictions, and compromises that characterize Indian foodways as they evolve within specific historical and material contexts." * Journal of Asian Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian
Book SynopsisTrade Review"James Staples charts how cattle owners, brokers, butchers, cooks, and occasional beef eaters navigate the contemporary political and cultural climate. Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian offers a fine-grained exploration of the current situation, locating it within the wider anthropology offood and eating in the region and revealing critical aspects of what it is to be Indian inthe early twenty-first century." * New Books in Anthropology *"Staples ushers us beyond binaries and into the lives of everyday eaters whose thoughts and politics rarely fall neatly into any standardized categories." * HIMALAYA: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies *"[E]ssential reading on food politics in South India." * The Wire *"Through a detailed examination of the ways in which people negotiate the politics of eating meat in their everyday lives, Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian calls attention to the ambiguities, contradictions, and compromises that characterize Indian foodways as they evolve within specific historical and material contexts." * Journal of Asian Studies *
£33.98
University of Washington Press Greening East Asia
Book SynopsisA timely collection examining a diverse region's environmental shiftsEast Asia hosts a fifth of the world's population and consumes over half the world's coal, a quarter of its petroleum products, and a tenth of its natural gas. It also produces a third of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change. The regionwhose countries share ecological, sociocultural, and political characteristics while varying in size, resource wealth, history, and political systemsoffers excellent insights into the complex dynamics influencing environmental politics, advocacy, and policy. With essays addressing Japan after Fukushima, coal plants and wind turbines in China, environmental activism in Taiwan, and sustainable rural development in South Korea, Greening East Asia explores a region's shift from development to eco-development in acknowledgment that environmental sustainability is a critical component of economic growth.Trade Review"[W]ill be of interest to scholars and policy makers of East Asia who are interested in theoretical frameworks to explicate the transitions in this part of the world." * Journal of Chinese Political Science *"[A] timely effort to integrate our understanding of environmental action in four major countries of East Asia. This book steps beyond the democracy/autocracy binary to point out the many ways that they have followed a similar development pathway, just at different times. This volume offers three commonalities" * China Quarterly *"[A] truly interdisciplinary endeavour that contributes to environmental and Asian studies. Given the relative paucity of edited materials that explicitly apply a comparative lens to East Asia’s environment, this is a much-welcomed scholarly intervention. Besides the impressive breadth of topics, this brilliantly edited collection ensures that the chapters are not only in conversation with each other, but also consistently engaged with the eco-developmentalism concept. Such strong cohesion enhances a reader’s sense of being able to piece together a fascinating yet complex picture of environmental governance and advocacy in East Asia." * Pacific Affairs *"[A] highly readable volume…Given its relevance to the ongoing climate emergency, this book should interest scholars, activists, and policy makers of the region and beyond." * Pacific Affairs *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Bringing Whales Ashore
Book SynopsisTrade Review"What is the real history of whaling in Japan? Is it first and foremost a story about the continuation of a centuries old cultural tradition? And how likely is it that the whaling Japan continues to do in the name of scientific research under IWC rules will validate a long-standing dedication to the sustainable use of whales for food? . . . Jakobina Arch . . . provide[s] for the first time convincing answers to these and other questions in Bringing Whales Ashore." -- Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith * Environment, Law, and History *"Bringing Whales Ashore is not only an important volume but also a provocative one. Jakobina Arch has produced (in her first book, no less) one of those rare and wonderful pieces of research that recasts the historical landscape (or, in this case, seascape) while stimulating debate and raising challenging new questions." * Monumenta Nipponica *"Arch’s fascinating study is more than an interdisciplinary maritime history. . . . Whales and whaling, here, wed the historical to the contemporary, enhancing knowledge of Japanese history while historizing contemporary controversies, including the invented tradition of Japanese as nature-loving people spiritually connected to their natural world." * Japan Studies Review *"Lucid, thoughtful, and thought provoking . . . a richly textured work that not only fills an important gap for scholars of Japanese history but also provides engaging material that should stimulate discussion—as well as debate—in the classroom." * Journal of Japanese Studies *"Rarely do books on the early modern period engage so directly with the present as does Bringing Whales Ashore. . . . As the Japanese pro-whaling lobby has constructed a certain narrative of the past to claim a right to whaling rooted in tradition and an ethos of sustainability, Arch provides a powerful counterweight with her in-depth investigation into all aspects of Japanese whaling history predating the rise of the modern factory ship in the twentieth century." * American Historical Review *"With Bringing Whales Ashore, Jakobina Arch almost singlehandedly places the emerging field regarding whales and whaling in Japanese history on solid ground." * Journal of Japanese Studies *"A superb book. . . . It represents the growing field of marine environmental history at its best." * Environmental History *"A breath-taking and emotional read... Jakobina Arch’s work challenges readers to travel from oceanscapes of cetacean migration, to visceral death on the coast, value extraction by dismemberment, and disintegration to places of hybrid-memory and lives long in the memory." * New Books Asia *"Jakobina K. Arch's Bringing Whales Ashore: Oceans and the Environment of Early Modern Japan is an important contribution to the rapidly expanding field of marine environmental history. Shedding the long-engrained terrestrial predisposition of history, Arch offers fresh understanding of the economic, cultural, and social links whaling forged between Japan and the Pacific Ocean in the premodern era." * H-Environment *"Bringing Whales Ashore is a breath-taking and emotional read for those concerned to fill in the watery, liminal spaces of environmental history in general or specifically of Japan." * New Books Asia *"[A] model of an interdisciplinary approach to environmental history...distill[s] complex histories into an eminently readable volume without compromising the scholarship therein." * H-Environment *
£28.29
University of Washington Press The Edge of Knowing
Book SynopsisReveals the historical impact of dream rhetoric on Chinese modernity and nation-buildingRealism and the rhetoric of dreams intersected in modern Chinese literature from the May Fourth Era in the early twentieth century through the period just following the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. The Edge of Knowing investigates this relationship, showing how writers' attention to dreams demonstrates the multiple influences of Western psychology, utopian desire for revolutionary change, and the enduring legacy of traditional Chinese philosophy. At the same time, modern Chinese writers used their work to represent social reality for the purpose of nation building. Recent political usage of dream rhetoric in the People's Republic of China attests to the continuing influence of dreams on the imagination of Chinese modernity. By employing a number of critical perspectives, The Edge of Knowing will appeal to readers seeking to understand the complicated relationship between literary form aTrade Review"Chan presents us with a reckoning of Chinese realism that should be of interest to scholars of mimesis, psychoanalysis, socialism, socialist realism, and affect well outside of Asian Studies. . . . . An enjoyable and compelling read." * Modern Chinese Literature and Culture *"Contributes significantly to the discourse of the dream, which . . . is becoming increasingly relevant in the context of permeation and saturation of the slogan of the Chinese Dream in China." * Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews *"A fascinating study that makes significant contributions to how we understand the relationship between time, dreaming, and materiality in modern literature." * New Books in East Asian Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Sleeping through Catastrophe: Dreams, Cataclysmic Modernity, and the Promises of Literary Realism 2. Dreaming as Representation: Lu Xun’s Wild Grass and Realism’s Social Address 3. Realism’s Hysterical Bodies: Narrative and Oneiric Counternarrative in Mao Dun’s Fiction 4. Sleepless Nights in Fast Socialism: Dream Rhetoric and Fiction in the Mao Era 5. Dream Fugue: Jiang Qing, the End of the Cultural Revolution, and Zong Pu’s Fiction Conclusion: Lu Xun and the Dreams of Politics and Literature Glossary of Chinese Characters Notes References Index
£33.98
University of Washington Press Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The book makes for an interesting read in many ways—reflections on transcultural living and how that experience led to career changes and changes in worldview. However, there is one final way in which this book is interesting and useful. It is a collection of essays which are a form of “auto-ethnography.” These observations of cultural adjustment, and American understanding of Korea during the 1960s to the 1980s are an important source of information for future scholars examining American attitudes to East Asia at the end of the twentieth century." * European Journal of Korean Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The book makes for an interesting read in many ways—reflections on transcultural living and how that experience led to career changes and changes in worldview. However, there is one final way in which this book is interesting and useful. It is a collection of essays which are a form of “auto-ethnography.” These observations of cultural adjustment, and American understanding of Korea during the 1960s to the 1980s are an important source of information for future scholars examining American attitudes to East Asia at the end of the twentieth century." * European Journal of Korean Studies *
£41.78
University of Washington Press Exile from the Grasslands
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Exile from the Grasslands is a monumental work for understanding the socio-economic and cultural transformation that has taken place in recent decades among Tibetan nomads in western China." * Inner Asia *"[A] well-balanced account of Tibetan pastoralists’ responses to, and experiences of, Chinese development projects." * Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice *"In a refreshingly clear fashion, the author untangles and traces the often-overlapping paths of policies from the top levels of the central government to the local levels ofimplementation. In this regard, Exile from the Grasslands will be a welcome addition for introducing undergraduate and graduate students to development policy in Tibetan areas of China." * China Quarterly *"Ptáčková examines the competing explanations of why the grasslands have deteri-orated since the incorporation of Tibet into the Chinese state. What emerges from her analysis is a clear statement that while recent land-use activities by some pastoralists have contributed to the situation, the often unintended but nevertheless real conse-quences of Chinese state policies themselves and their inconsistent implementation and often contradictory goals are primarily to blame." * Journal of Anthropological Research *"Ptáčková’s work is a valuable source of information about current state-led development and transformation in Zêkog, Amdo Tibet. This book will undoubtedly be of interest and value for scholars, students and practitioners working in the fields of rural development studies." * Nomadic Peoples *"Ptáčková’s brief work takes a complicated web of history, culture, dreams of modernity (by both the state and its people) and deftly crafts a discussion that informs readers of any level of the issues facing Tibetan herding communities as China faces the expanding impacts of climate change, global economic chaos, and more." * H-Net Reviews *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Exile from the Grasslands
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Exile from the Grasslands is a monumental work for understanding the socio-economic and cultural transformation that has taken place in recent decades among Tibetan nomads in western China." * Inner Asia *"[A] well-balanced account of Tibetan pastoralists’ responses to, and experiences of, Chinese development projects." * Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice *"In a refreshingly clear fashion, the author untangles and traces the often-overlapping paths of policies from the top levels of the central government to the local levels ofimplementation. In this regard, Exile from the Grasslands will be a welcome addition for introducing undergraduate and graduate students to development policy in Tibetan areas of China." * China Quarterly *"Ptáčková examines the competing explanations of why the grasslands have deteri-orated since the incorporation of Tibet into the Chinese state. What emerges from her analysis is a clear statement that while recent land-use activities by some pastoralists have contributed to the situation, the often unintended but nevertheless real conse-quences of Chinese state policies themselves and their inconsistent implementation and often contradictory goals are primarily to blame." * Journal of Anthropological Research *"Ptáčková’s work is a valuable source of information about current state-led development and transformation in Zêkog, Amdo Tibet. This book will undoubtedly be of interest and value for scholars, students and practitioners working in the fields of rural development studies." * Nomadic Peoples *"Ptáčková’s brief work takes a complicated web of history, culture, dreams of modernity (by both the state and its people) and deftly crafts a discussion that informs readers of any level of the issues facing Tibetan herding communities as China faces the expanding impacts of climate change, global economic chaos, and more." * H-Net Reviews *
£33.98
University of Washington Press Divine Demonic and Disordered
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This important book advances our understanding of issues of women and gender in premodern and especially Song-dynasty (960-1279) China." * Nan Nu: Men, Women and Gender in China *"Cheng’s focus on medieval China makes an important contribution broadly to the study of women, gender, and sexuality from an unprecedented angle." * Journal of Chinese Studies *"Offers the reader an invaluable and rare insight." * Religious Studies Review *"This book is crucial for people interested in gender, religion, and medicine; how these topics developed during the Song dynasty or medieval China; and how all three became intertwined and evoked debates in the modern world. Teachers will find the translated anecdotes useful for undergraduates to interpret and discuss in courses on premodern Chinese history and literature." * China Review International *
£110.48
University of Washington Press The Objectionable Li Zhi
Book SynopsisAstute inquiries into the world of China's most unconventional early modern intellectualIconoclastic scholar Li Zhi (15271602) was a central figure in the cultural world of the late Ming dynasty. His provocative and controversial words and actions shaped print culture, literary practice, attitudes toward gender, and perspectives on Buddhism and the afterlife. Although banned, his writings were never fully suppressed, because they tapped into issues of vital significance to generations of readers. His incisive remarks, along with the emotional intensity and rhetorical power with which he delivered them, made him an icon of his cultural moment and an emblem of early modern Chinese intellectual dissent. In this volume, leading China scholars demonstrate the interrelatedness of seemingly discrete aspects of Li Zhi's thought and emphasize his far-reaching impact on his contemporaries and successors. In doing so, they challenge the myth that there was no tradition of dissidence in premoderTrade Review"[A] book that answers questions many have asked themselves and raises new ones on the complexity of Li Zhi’s (1527-1602) personality and thought. This is the first volume in English that collects various studies done under different perspectives on this controversial Ming thinker." * Ming Qing Studies *"[A] fascinating, multidisciplinary study of Li Zhi, a controversial, complex figure... a remarkable work" * Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews *"[O]ffers a worthy companion to the editors’ earlier volume of selected translations of Li Zhi’s writings." * Journal of Chinese Studies *"[A] mature contribution both to Li Zhi and late-Ming scholarship. Features of his life and writings are examined by knowledgeable Ming scholars who are able skillfully to shed light on him from the perspective of a body of scholarship for which each is known." * Journal of Chinese History *"The diverse and multifaceted scholarship presented in this volume not only mirrors Li Zhi’s intellectual versatility, it also documents the wide margin that the discrepancies and inconsistencies in his thinking and writing leave for interpretation. Even though Li Zhi seemed “objectionable” to many of his contemporaries and some of those that came after him, this book convincingly demonstrates the value and perpetual significance of his thought. To all students of Li Zhi’s life and thought and of late Ming intellectual history in general I do recommend this volume unreservedly." * Monumenta Serica *
£110.48
University of Washington Press The Objectionable Li Zhi
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] book that answers questions many have asked themselves and raises new ones on the complexity of Li Zhi’s (1527-1602) personality and thought. This is the first volume in English that collects various studies done under different perspectives on this controversial Ming thinker." * Ming Qing Studies *"[A] fascinating, multidisciplinary study of Li Zhi, a controversial, complex figure... a remarkable work" * Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews *"[O]ffers a worthy companion to the editors’ earlier volume of selected translations of Li Zhi’s writings." * Journal of Chinese Studies *"[A] mature contribution both to Li Zhi and late-Ming scholarship. Features of his life and writings are examined by knowledgeable Ming scholars who are able skillfully to shed light on him from the perspective of a body of scholarship for which each is known." * Journal of Chinese History *"The diverse and multifaceted scholarship presented in this volume not only mirrors Li Zhi’s intellectual versatility, it also documents the wide margin that the discrepancies and inconsistencies in his thinking and writing leave for interpretation. Even though Li Zhi seemed “objectionable” to many of his contemporaries and some of those that came after him, this book convincingly demonstrates the value and perpetual significance of his thought. To all students of Li Zhi’s life and thought and of late Ming intellectual history in general I do recommend this volume unreservedly." * Monumenta Serica *
£33.98
University of Washington Press The Peking Gazette in Late Imperial China
Book SynopsisHow news circulated from the Qing dynasty courtIn the Qing dynasty (16441911), China experienced far greater access to political information than suggested by the blunt measures of control and censorship employed by modern Chinese regimes. A tenuous partnership between the court and the dynamic commercial publishing enterprises of late imperial China enabled the publication of gazettes in a wide range of print and manuscript formats. For both domestic and foreign readers these official gazettes offered vital information about the Qing state and its activities, transmitting state news across a vast empire and beyond. And the most essential window onto Qing politics was the Peking Gazette, a genre that circulated globally over the course of the dynasty. This illuminating study presents a comprehensive history of the Peking Gazette and frames it as the cornerstone of a Qing information policy that, paradoxically, prized both transparency and secrecy. Gazettes gave readers a glimpse intoTrade Review"Emily Mokros’s remarkable book considers changes to gazette publication in the early Qing, the gazette’s place as a vehicle for publicizing information alongside parallel policies of secrecy and censorship, its complex publication history, its varied uses for readers, and its global circulation once excerpted or translated in newspapers in treaty ports and around the world." * Journal of Asian Studies *"Qing historians today have long known of the gazettes, but we've not known enough. This solid monograph fills the gaps in our knowledge and contributes to understanding of Qing political culture, its enduring institutions, and the origins of western sinological studies." * Journal of Chinese History *
£110.48
University of Washington Press The Peking Gazette in Late Imperial China
Book SynopsisHow news circulated from the Qing dynasty courtIn the Qing dynasty (16441911), China experienced far greater access to political information than suggested by the blunt measures of control and censorship employed by modern Chinese regimes. A tenuous partnership between the court and the dynamic commercial publishing enterprises of late imperial China enabled the publication of gazettes in a wide range of print and manuscript formats. For both domestic and foreign readers these official gazettes offered vital information about the Qing state and its activities, transmitting state news across a vast empire and beyond. And the most essential window onto Qing politics was the Peking Gazette, a genre that circulated globally over the course of the dynasty. This illuminating study presents a comprehensive history of the Peking Gazette and frames it as the cornerstone of a Qing information policy that, paradoxically, prized both transparency and secrecy. Gazettes gave readers a glimpse intoTrade Review"Emily Mokros’s remarkable book considers changes to gazette publication in the early Qing, the gazette’s place as a vehicle for publicizing information alongside parallel policies of secrecy and censorship, its complex publication history, its varied uses for readers, and its global circulation once excerpted or translated in newspapers in treaty ports and around the world." * Journal of Asian Studies *"Qing historians today have long known of the gazettes, but we've not known enough. This solid monograph fills the gaps in our knowledge and contributes to understanding of Qing political culture, its enduring institutions, and the origins of western sinological studies." * Journal of Chinese History *
£33.98
University of Washington Press Reproductive Politics and the Making of Modern
Book SynopsisFinalist for the inaugural ACLS Open Access Book PrizeCalculating the cost of life in a transnational contextBeginning in the late nineteenth century, India played a pivotal role in global conversations about population and reproduction. In Reproductive Politics and the Making of Modern India, Mytheli Sreenivas demonstrates how colonial administrators, postcolonial development experts, nationalists, eugenicists, feminists, and family planners all aimed to reform reproduction to transform both individual bodies and the body politic. Across the political spectrum, people insisted that regulating reproduction was necessary and that limiting the population was essential to economic development. This book investigates the often devastating implications of this logic, which demonized some women's reproduction as the cause of national and planetary catastrophe.To tell this story, Sreenivas explores debates about marriage, family, and contrTrade Review"Sreenivas demonstrates how colonial administrators, postcolonial development experts, nationalists, eugenicists, feminists, and family planners all aimed to reform reproduction to transform both individual bodies and the body politic." * New Books Network *"[T]his book is of vital importance to scholars of postcolonial states, modernisation, and population control." * Economic and Political Weekly *"[O]ffers a compelling view of colonial and postcolonial India, seen through the lens of the politics of reproduction." * Population and Development Review *"The thorough examination of a broad range of archival records backed by extensive engagement with critical theoretical frameworks makes the book a significant contribution to the scholarship on modern South Asia." * Asian Affairs *"Temporally, the book is a work situated in modern history, but its investigation of the concepts of "population" and "economy" make it a sharp commentary on the centrality of reproduction in global biopolitics today...What stands out in Sreenivas’s work is the animation with which the key actors of the period under study are brought to life." * H-Net Reviews *"Sreenivas’s book is an important contribution to a growing body of scholarly work that thinks seriously with the transnational politics of gender and sexuality to reimagine this critical period of late colonial and postcolonial development." * The Indian Economic and Social History Review *"Sreenivas’ meticulous research at the intersections of demographic history, gender/sexuality/sexology, and contraceptive politics offers a complex history of population, nation, and economy in India. It makes a timely contribution to nineteenth and twentieth-century South Asian history, reproductive and contraceptive histories of India, and colonial and postcolonial gender and sexuality studies." * South Asian Review *"As the world confronts climate catastrophe, and engages with questions of population, reproduction, and economy, Mytheli Sreenivas’ Reproductive Politics and the Making of Modern India is an important and timely intervention. It sits alongside other important feminist interventions on population and development." * Pacific Affairs *"The book is highly relevant to scholars; researchers in sociology, population sciences, demographic, and development studies and other social sciences; and feminist activists. It offers a compelling view of colonial and postcolonial India, seen through the lens of the politics of reproduction and the need for population control and planned parenthood for the development of human beings." * Women's Reproductive Health *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Reproductive Politics and the Making of Modern
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Sreenivas demonstrates how colonial administrators, postcolonial development experts, nationalists, eugenicists, feminists, and family planners all aimed to reform reproduction to transform both individual bodies and the body politic." * New Books Network *"[T]his book is of vital importance to scholars of postcolonial states, modernisation, and population control." * Economic and Political Weekly *"[O]ffers a compelling view of colonial and postcolonial India, seen through the lens of the politics of reproduction." * Population and Development Review *"The thorough examination of a broad range of archival records backed by extensive engagement with critical theoretical frameworks makes the book a significant contribution to the scholarship on modern South Asia." * Asian Affairs *"Temporally, the book is a work situated in modern history, but its investigation of the concepts of "population" and "economy" make it a sharp commentary on the centrality of reproduction in global biopolitics today...What stands out in Sreenivas’s work is the animation with which the key actors of the period under study are brought to life." * H-Net Reviews *"Sreenivas’s book is an important contribution to a growing body of scholarly work that thinks seriously with the transnational politics of gender and sexuality to reimagine this critical period of late colonial and postcolonial development." * The Indian Economic and Social History Review *"Sreenivas’ meticulous research at the intersections of demographic history, gender/sexuality/sexology, and contraceptive politics offers a complex history of population, nation, and economy in India. It makes a timely contribution to nineteenth and twentieth-century South Asian history, reproductive and contraceptive histories of India, and colonial and postcolonial gender and sexuality studies." * South Asian Review *"As the world confronts climate catastrophe, and engages with questions of population, reproduction, and economy, Mytheli Sreenivas’ Reproductive Politics and the Making of Modern India is an important and timely intervention. It sits alongside other important feminist interventions on population and development." * Pacific Affairs *"The book is highly relevant to scholars; researchers in sociology, population sciences, demographic, and development studies and other social sciences; and feminist activists. It offers a compelling view of colonial and postcolonial India, seen through the lens of the politics of reproduction and the need for population control and planned parenthood for the development of human beings." * Women's Reproductive Health *
£29.66
University of Washington Press Timber and Forestry in Qing China
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[O]ne of the most interesting books for understanding the Chinese system of timber trade during the Qing era. Zhang's book can be useful to us today because we are living in a time of deforestation of the Amazon, climate change, and problems with the actual economic system. The explanation provided by Zhang might be part of the solution for shaping humanity's common future." * H-Net *"Zhang's work is superlative... [T]his remarkable book belongs on the shelves and syllabi of any scholar interested in the economical and environmental history of early modern China." * Journal of Asian Studies *"For the reader unfamiliar with the details of imperial Chinese political economy, this is a work that is attentive to what you need to know. For the specialist it is skilled in logical weaving together of the impact of a complex set of institutions and practices. This should encourage wide readerhip among comparative historians as well as China scholars." * Journal of Chinese History *"This carefully constructed study makes a major contribution to Chinese economic and environmental history and to world-historical discourses on resource management, early modern commercialization, and sustainable development." * New Books Network *"At a time when the market has been seen as a main culprit for resource degeneration, Zhang’s study offers an important opportunity for us to reconsider the market–resource relationship. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese history, economic and environmental history, Chinese geography, resource management, sustainable forestry, market–environment relationships, and related topics." * China Review International *"Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars of early capitalism, regional political economy, historical resource economics, and the convergence of ecology and economics (a new Oikonomics?) will gain much from a careful, critical, and comparative reading of this remarkable and challenging book." * Environmental History *"Offering vivid insights into labourers, who played a crucial role in different stages of timber production, such as cutting, processing, and transportation, Zhang’s book fills a gap in current knowledge about the history of forest labourers." * International Review of Social History *"[An] original and fascinating new perspective on forest history in China…Scholars and students of global and East Asian environmental, forest, and economic history will find [this] new and insightful analysis very useful." * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *"An impressive and careful study of a subject unexplored in English. [Meng Zhang's] insights into the role of market forces in environmental management make a vital contribution to the field of environmental history." * American Historical Review *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Timber and Forestry in Qing China
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[O]ne of the most interesting books for understanding the Chinese system of timber trade during the Qing era. Zhang's book can be useful to us today because we are living in a time of deforestation of the Amazon, climate change, and problems with the actual economic system. The explanation provided by Zhang might be part of the solution for shaping humanity's common future." * H-Net *"Zhang's work is superlative... [T]his remarkable book belongs on the shelves and syllabi of any scholar interested in the economical and environmental history of early modern China." * Journal of Asian Studies *"For the reader unfamiliar with the details of imperial Chinese political economy, this is a work that is attentive to what you need to know. For the specialist it is skilled in logical weaving together of the impact of a complex set of institutions and practices. This should encourage wide readerhip among comparative historians as well as China scholars." * Journal of Chinese History *"This carefully constructed study makes a major contribution to Chinese economic and environmental history and to world-historical discourses on resource management, early modern commercialization, and sustainable development." * New Books Network *"At a time when the market has been seen as a main culprit for resource degeneration, Zhang’s study offers an important opportunity for us to reconsider the market–resource relationship. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese history, economic and environmental history, Chinese geography, resource management, sustainable forestry, market–environment relationships, and related topics." * China Review International *"Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars of early capitalism, regional political economy, historical resource economics, and the convergence of ecology and economics (a new Oikonomics?) will gain much from a careful, critical, and comparative reading of this remarkable and challenging book." * Environmental History *"Offering vivid insights into labourers, who played a crucial role in different stages of timber production, such as cutting, processing, and transportation, Zhang’s book fills a gap in current knowledge about the history of forest labourers." * International Review of Social History *"[An] original and fascinating new perspective on forest history in China…Scholars and students of global and East Asian environmental, forest, and economic history will find [this] new and insightful analysis very useful." * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *"An impressive and careful study of a subject unexplored in English. [Meng Zhang's] insights into the role of market forces in environmental management make a vital contribution to the field of environmental history." * American Historical Review *
£33.98
University of Washington Press Arranged Companions
Book Synopsis
£110.48
University of Washington Press Arranged Companions
Book SynopsisQuestions conventional assumptions about premodern conjugal relationshipsAlthough commonly associated with patriarchal oppression, arranged marriages have adapted over the centuries to changing cultural norms and the lived experiences of men and women. In Arranged Companions, historian Weijing Lu chronicles how marital behaviors during the early and High Qing (mid-seventeenth through mid-nineteenth centuries) were informed by rich and complex traditions and mediated by the historical conditions of the period, during which marital affection was celebrated as a basic ingredient of an ideal marriage. Lu finds public representation and private communication of marital affection in personal records, including poetry, biographies, letters, and memoirs. During this unique historical moment, ideals of marital companionship and love came to fruition while social changes also created new tensions for couples and extended families. Offering surprising revelations about conjugal relations during
£33.98
University of Washington Press Carving Status at Kumgangsan
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan is the first study in a Western language devoted exclusively to carved rock inscriptions at thousands of scenic and historical sites of Kŭmgangsan in North Korea, a currently inaccessible site to most people. The author’s thoughtful analysis of carefully selected cases from rock carvings, maps, paintings, and board games brings insightful perspectives of the culture of journey, religious and secular visions of Kŭmgangsan, history of calligraphy, and material culture relevant to travel in the late Joseon era." * Seoul Journal of Korean Studies *"Stiller's work provides a wealth of valuable insights into the history of social status, travel, and cultural production in mid-tolate Chosŏn Dynasty Korea. Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan is also a beautiful example of book production--elegantly laid-out, and richly illustrated with photographs and reproductions of paintings and calligraphy." * Asian Studies Review *"Through her analysis of rock carvings, literary documents, and other visual materials, Stiller has uncovered a new layer of cultural history related to Kŭmgang-san." * Acta Koreana *
£76.87
University of Washington Press Temples in the Cliffside
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2023 IPPY Gold Religion Nonfiction category, sponsored by the Independent Publisher Book Award Centuries of monumental sculpture, embedded in the landscapeAt sixty-two meters the Leshan Buddha in southwest China is the world's tallest premodern statue. Carved out of a riverside cliff in the eighth century, it has evolved from a religious center to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular tourist destination. But this Buddha does not stand alone: Sichuan is home to many cave temples with such monumental sculptures, part of a centuries-long tradition of art-making intricately tied to how local inhabitants made use of their natural resources with purpose and creativity. These examples of art embedded in nature have altered landscapes and have influenced the behaviors, values, and worldviews of users through multiple cycles of revival, restoration, and recreation. As hybrid spaces that are at once natural and artificial, they embody the interaction of art and the environmenTrade Review"[A] very inspiring contribution to our understanding of ecological art history from the perspective of Asian art. It should be read by anyone who is interested in the interrelationships among Buddhist studies, art history, and environmental humanities." * H-Environment *"Sonya Lee’s Temples in the Cliffside is a welcome addition to studies of the religious cliff sculpture of southwestern China." * Journal of Chinese History *"[A] truly multidisciplinary work of scholarship that examines Buddhist art from intertwined technical, environmental, religious, historical, aesthetic, economic, and political perspectives...Temples in the Cliffside innovatively locates religious art within its historical, political, and natural landscapes to show how people have managed their relationships to nature, and nonhuman entities in general, in different contexts. At a time when floods will likely wash the Great Buddha’s feet more and more frequently, thinking about art holistically and ecologically is particularly urgent." * CAA Reviews *"Sonya Lee's superbly researched work has paid attention to the aesthetic and historical content of the monuments, but has also updated it by framing the events in the context of environment and sustainability which are very much part of our present time. This most original approach will inspire a younger generation of art historians. Lastly, her uncommon familiarity with all matters related to conservation and restoration have contributed to this groundbreaking book." * Studies in Chinese Religions *
£78.14
University of Washington Press Ordering the Myriad Things
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A useful glossary of names, places, and botanical terms in Chinese and English, along with the detailed index, make this work valuable for researchers but the story is accessible to general readers. This book will fascinate anyone interested in botany and the geopolitical dimensions of modern science." * Choice *"This is a well-researched and well-written study of an important part of the history of botany, and of the resourcefulness and determination of Chinese botanists. It belongs in botanical and horticultural libraries everywhere, and as a story, it is recommended to anyone with an interest in plants and how they are studied." * The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries *"An indispensable addition to our still rather limited knowledge of scientific development in late Imperial and Republican China. Books such as this one are instrumental in putting together the complicated and at times complexing puzzle of the emergence and development of modern scientific practice in China, a process, which has consequences up to the present day." * Social History of Medicine *"Ordering the Myriad Things sets out to show how two knowledge systems—one that preoccupied itself by trying to understand how processes of change generated and manifested themselves through things such grasses, trees, and grains and another that sought understanding by making encountered objects the object of study themselves—interacted and ultimately became intertwined." * Journal of Chinese History *"Menzies presents a process-focused chronicle of how one newly emergent scientific discipline—botany—was introduced to China and developed by successive generations of Chinese botanists...Excellent, engaging, and well-written." * H-Net Reviews *"In this scrupulously researched monograph, Nicholas K. Menzies narrates personal, institutional, and scientific stories in astonishing and vivid detail to create a sweeping narrative of the establishment of the modern science of botany in China." * Isis, a Journal of the History of Science Society *"A fascinating and well-researched inquiry into the development of modern Chinese botany." * Monumenta Serica *"[A] welcome presentation of the history of modern botany in China. . . . The thought-provoking questions raised by Menzies and his analytical approach are sure to make this book instructive reading for historians of natural history." * Archives of Natural History *
£110.48
University of Washington Press Footprints of War
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[O]ne of those rare works that combines practical benefits with broad scholarly significance . . . outstanding. Its original arguments, and the diversity of peoples contained within its pages—Vietnamese, Cham, Chinese, French, French colonial, Japanese, American—ensure that the book will matter to historians of Vietnam, the United States, and the world." * Journal of World History *"Presents the history of this area as a form of stratigraphy, excavating layers of sedimented past where multiple military conflicts occurred. . . . A very welcome addition to the growing field of environmental history on Vietnam and on war and environment generally." * Environmental History *"A very welcome addition to the growing field of environmental history on Vietnam and on war and environment generally." * Environmental History *"[O[ffers readers an intriguing new perspective on the long history of military conflict and occupation in central Vietnam by integrating environmental perspectivves with more traditional military and political histories..an inspiring application of robust historical research to solving modern environmental problems caused by war." * LSE Review of Books *
£29.66
University of Washington Press Mumbai Taximen
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A landmark book across a range of disciplines, and it makes for compelling and enjoyable reading." * Asian Studies Review *"Mumbai Taximen accomplishes several things. While it offers an ethnographic account of an automobility that is part of a distinctively non-Western mode of capitalism, first and foremost it constitutes an intriguing case study of how a vehicle may be appropriated as a metaphor of social identity and moral agency. . . [T]he book includes sharply drawn vignettes that bring us into the practices and concerns of daily life. These will make the volume especially useful in the classroom." * Ethnos *"[T]heoretically and empirically rich. . . This book is an important contribution to work on the critical occupation of taxi-driving (related to urban mobility), which is currently undergoing a rapid transformation driven by technology and the aspirations of post-colonial citizens and the state." * Pacific Affairs *"Mumbai Taximen’s narrative genius lies in the author’s “sensuous approach” which effectively transports the reader into the embodied, lived worlds of Indian automobility. . . [B]y inviting (indeed impelling) the reader into the lives of Mumbai’s taximen, in all its material messiness, palpable precariousness, quiet comforts, and dignified dangers, Bedi’s narrative puts up a roadblock to the charting of any easy path from social critique to straightforward solutions. This book unsettles. Which is why it needs to be read." * Journal of Asian Studies *
£110.48
University of Washington Press A Ming Confucians World
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The translation is introduced by a witty and perceptive description of the contemporaneous Ming context as well as a detailed discussion of Lu. What makes this book relevant to the scholar of religion is the many instances Lu the Confucian gazes effectively at his religious lifeworld, which one encounters in many of his depictions of Ming quotidian life. Scholars of Chinese religions and Confucianism will have much to gain from this." * Religious Studies Review *"Mark Halperin's translation from Lu Rong's Miscellaneous Records from the Bean Garden is a treasure trove of both subjective and objective gems. It highlights the belief system of Lu Rong himself and provides invaluable information about the mid-Ming period" * Journal of Chinese History *
£110.48
University of Washington Press A Ming Confucians World
Book SynopsisA forgotten century marks the years between the Ming dynasty's (13681644) turbulent founding and its sixteenth-century age of exploration and economic transformation. In this period of social stability, retired scholar-official Lu Rong chronicled his observations of Chinese society in Miscellaneous Records from the Bean Garden (Shuyuan zaji). Openly expressing his admirations and frustrations, Lu provides a window into the quotidian that sets Bean Garden apart from other works of the biji genre of informal notes.Mark Halperin organizes a translated selection of Lu's records to create a panorama of Ming life. A man of unusual curiosity, Lu describes multiple social classes, ethnicities, and locales in his accounts of political intrigues, farming techniques, religious practices, etiquette, crime, and family life. Centuries after their composition, Lu's words continue to provide a richly textured portrait of China on the cusp of the early modern era. The open access publication of this Trade Review"The translation is introduced by a witty and perceptive description of the contemporaneous Ming context as well as a detailed discussion of Lu. What makes this book relevant to the scholar of religion is the many instances Lu the Confucian gazes effectively at his religious lifeworld, which one encounters in many of his depictions of Ming quotidian life. Scholars of Chinese religions and Confucianism will have much to gain from this." * Religious Studies Review *"Mark Halperin's translation from Lu Rong's Miscellaneous Records from the Bean Garden is a treasure trove of both subjective and objective gems. It highlights the belief system of Lu Rong himself and provides invaluable information about the mid-Ming period" * Journal of Chinese History *
£33.98
