Regional / International studies Books

Book SynopsisEvery year an average of 1000 Tibetan children risk their lives to escape from a system of education that is almost entirely Chinese. This problem, all too often passed over in silence, forces many parents to send their children to India for a traditional Tibetan education. They pay a guide who accompanies the children in groups, for the journey over the Himalayas which is not without risks. What leads parents to expose their children to these risks? How many flee? What is the journey like? What are the psychological consequences? What is life like for those who arrive in India? Do the parents ever see their children again? ''Child Exodus from Tibet'' is an informative, readable book with moving testimony, richly illustrated with colour photographs. The author, Birgit van de Wijer, has been engaged with Tibetan issues for years. For this book she spent months collecting information in India and Nepal, where she interviewed dozens of Tibetan children. She is outspoken in denouncing the inhuman conditions of these children; there has been silence for too long.

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Book SynopsisChildren born in south India have better chances of survival, education, and economic success compared to those born in the north. The book explores the reasons behind this disparity and the potential consequences for a centralized India.

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Book SynopsisThe potato (Solanum tuberosum L) has a high potential to raise smallholder income and improve food security in Eastern Africa. Improving the quality of seed potatoes can contribute to increasing its productivity. Few seed potatoes are currently sourced from specialised multipliers, as farmers largely rely on farm-saved seed potatoes. This often makes economic sense in the absence of affordable high quality seed potatoes and limited market security. Seed potato system interventions need to address the quality of specially multiplied and farm-saved seed potatoes simultaneously. Here it is shown that positive selection, the selection of healthy looking mother plants for the production of seed potatoes by ware potato farmers, can contribute to improving seed potato quality. When looking back an essential success factor of the research trajectory was the researchers'' room to manoeuvre and immerse in partnerships with practitioners, while innovation was made the central objective, rather than research results. The experience shows that it is worthwhile to search for opportunities for incremental innovation and that these can be of a surprising simple nature. For an effective contribution to innovation the mandate of research needs to allow for the active engagement in training, communication and scaling-up.

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Book SynopsisLove, corruption, violence and the dangerous politics of aid in the Sudan, by an exciting new writer.Emma McCune's passion for Africa, her unstinting commitment to the children of the Sudan, and her striking glamour set her apart from other aid workers the moment she arrived in southern Sudan. But no one was prepared for her decision to marry a local warlord a man who seemed to embody everything she was working against and throw herself into his violent quest to take over southern Sudan's rebel movement.At once a disturbing love story and a penetrating examination of the Sudan, Emma's War charts the process by which Emma's romantic delusions led to her descent into the hell of Africa's longest running civil war.Trade Review‘One of the best (books) I have ever read on the difficult relationship between the developed world and the Third World. An eye-opener. Scroggins is as brave as her subject…she has written a wonderful and challenging book.’ William Shawcross, Sunday Times ‘A wonderful book and a gripping history of the Sudan which doesn’t shrink the complexities.’ Observer ‘Scroggins is to be congratulated for making the story of McCune’s ill-fated foray into Africa such a good read.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Deborah Scroggins’ analysis provides sharp relevance. It is the story both of a woman and a strange and sorrowful world.’ Sunday Independent ‘Remarkable…it has the feel of an epic tale, taking in the tragedy of Sudan…Scroggins steers a tight path between writing this book as an account of her own fascination with Sudan and as the story of McCune’s life.’ New Statesman ‘Her biography is a painstaking and loving portrait of this remarkable woman.’ Evening Standard ‘Deborah Scroggins has a sharp eye. “Emma’s War” is about the politics of the belly, and what happens when the fat white paunch meets the swollen stomachs of the hungry in Africa. It is a sorry story, but Ms Scroggins tells it awfully well.’ Economist ‘Part history, part biography and part Scroggins’ own memoir, “Emma’s War” offers an enthralling, accessible account of Sudan’s most recent history.’ Sunday Business Post

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Book SynopsisThis collection of Abiola Irele's essays examines African literary traditions in the broad sense, and places the work of individual authors in context. Irele presents critical readings of the works of Chinua Achebe, Kamau Braithwaite, Amadou Hapae Ba, and Amadou Kourouma, among others.Trade ReviewAn interesting collection of essays...Well worth the reading time. * African Studies Review *Table of Contents1: The African Imagination 2: Orality, Literacy, and African Literature 3: African Letters: The Making of a Tradition 4: Dimensions of African Discourse 5: A Study in Ambiguity: Amadou Hampaté Bâ's The Fortunes of Wangrin 6: Narrative, History and the African Imagination: Amadou Kourouma's Monnè, outrages et défis 7: The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart 8: The Return of the Native: Edward Kamau Brathwaite's Masks 9: A National Voice: The Poetry and Plays of John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo 10: Parables of the African Condition: The New Realism in African Fiction Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis study argues that American artistry in the 1960s can be understood as one of the most vital and compelling interrogations of modernity. The author posits that the legacy of slavery has made African-Americans among the most incisive critics and celebrants of the "Enlightenment inheritance".Trade ReviewThe Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts movement are celebrated as critical moments of racial nationalism and cultural awakening. Questioning the critical consensus about this narrative, however, James Hall reframe[s] these two literary periods in light of transnational and anti-modernist paradigms ... provocative [study] disturbing to our common sense about these seminal eras. * American Literature *Hall deftly restores a fuller voice to sixties artists too often straightjacketed within an obligatory hermeneutics of racial protest. * American Literature *James C. Hall invites us to revise our thinking about the 1960s in this thoughtful and generative study of the extraordinary efflorescence of poetry, fiction, autobiography, music, and painting that emerged out of that decade's African American freedom movement ... thoughtful, subtle, and persuasive. * The Journal of American History *

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Book SynopsisHere is one of the most important surviving works of pre-Columbian civilization, Rabinal Achi, a Mayan drama set a century before the arrival of the Spanish, produced by the translator of the best selling Popol Vuh. The first direct translation into English from Quiché Maya, based on the original text, Rabinal Achi is the story of city-states, war, and nobility, of diplomacy, mysticism, and psychic journeys. Dennis Tedlock''s translation is clear and vivid; more than that, it is rooted in an understanding of how the play is actually performed. Despite being banned for centuries by Spanish authorities, it survived in actual practice, and is still performed in the town of Rabinal today. Tedlock provides an introduction and commentary that explain the historical events compressed into the play, the Spanish influence on the Mayan dramatic tradition, and the cultural and religious world preserved in this remarkable play.Trade ReviewI highly recommend this book not only to historians and other scholars, but also to the educated reader interested in the Mayas and other native peoples around the world. It is a fascinating read backed by serious scholarship. * Robert Carmack, Hispanic American Historical Review *

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Book SynopsisBierhorst traces the principle myths from tribe to tribe in seven carefully mapped regions of South America. This book includes samples from mythological stories and some chapters are devoted to special topics such as myth and politics. Bierhorst introduces readers to the female creators of the northern Andes, the male gods of the Ancient Incas, and the shameless tricksters Sun and Moon.The book includes notes, a pronunciation guide, index, maps, and photos. The new afterword focuses on the durability of Indian mythology and the abundant material increasingly available since the mid 80s. Bierhorst offers new information on previously obscure tribes on the mythological map.Trade Review"One of the finest popular works in anthropology and science....The concepts are profound, yet accessible."--The New York Times Book Review "An intriguing, complex tapestry of living folklore."--Booklist "A well-organized, coherent overview."--Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisThe appearance of religion as a category describing a set of practices and beliefs allegedly an aspect of all cultures dates only from the modern period, emerging as Europe expanded trade abroad and established its first colonial relations in the 17th and 18th centuries. The invention of Hinduism can be seen in the encounter between modernity''s greatest colonial power, Britain, and the jewel of her imperial crown, India. This encounter was deeply shaded by the articulation and development of the concept of religion, and it produced the now common idea that Hinduism is a religion. The Bengal Presidency, home of Calcutta - the capital of colonial India and center of economic gravity in the eastern hemisphere - emerged as the locus of ongoing and direct contact between Indians and colonial officials, journalists, and missionaries. Drawing on a large body of previously untapped literature, including documents from the Church Missionary Society and Bengali newspapers, Brian Pennington offeTrade ReviewPennington gives us an insightful, creative, judicious, critical, and honest book that goes a long way to restoring some balance into the discussion about colonialism and Hinduism. I cannot recommend this book enough. * Carl Olson, International Journal of Hindu Studies *

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Book SynopsisThe Curse of Caste is the earliest published novel by an African American woman yet to be discovered.Trade Review"The groundbreaking research and expert criticism conducted by Andrews and Kachun is re-shaping scholarly discussion of The Curse of Caste itself and early African American literature in general."- Willie J. Harrell Jr., Southern Quaterly "This text enlightens today's reader in matters of representations of race, African American women's authorial venues, and the readership of newspapers during Reconstruction. The editing is careful and clear. Essential."--F. Martin, Choice "This text enlightens today's reader in matters of representations of race, African American women's authorial venues, and the readership of newspapers during Reconstruction. The editing is careful and clear. Essential."--F. Martin, Choice "The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride, is believed by some scholars to be the first novel ever published by an African-American woman. Whatever the case, "The Curse of Caste" provides insights into contemporary attitudes about black women's sexuality and miscegenation."--Dinitia Smith, The New York Times "This republication of Julia C. Collins' Civil-War era novel represents a remarkable act of literary recovery. Collins' work and the invaluable supporting material accompanying it here deeply enrich our understanding of American life during her turbulent times."--Dickson D. Bruce, Jr., University of California, Irvine, author of The Origins of African American Literature, 1680-1865 "Following the precedent set by Harriet Wilson's Our Nig, Julia Collins' The Curse of Caste is a compelling, imaginative rendering of the intersections of race and class at the close of the Civil War. William Andrews is the leading scholar of 19th century African American literature, and the work of Andrews and Mitch Kachun on The Curse of Caste is a model of judicious and sensitive editing."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsForward by Frances Smith Foster Editors' Introduction Notes to Introduction Editorial Note by Anne Bruder The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride, 1865 Two Alternate Conclusions to The Curse of Caste The Essays of Julia C. Collins, 1864-1865 Reading Group Guide Notes Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a systematic account of the role of the personal spiritual ideal of wu-wei--literally no doing, but better rendered as effortless action--in early Chinese thought. Edward Slingerland''s analysis shows that wu-wei represents the most general of a set of conceptual metaphors having to do with a state of effortless ease and unself-consciousness. This concept of effortlessness, he contends, serves as a common ideal for both Daoist and Confucian thinkers. He also argues that this concept contains within itself a conceptual tension that motivates the development of early Chinese thought: the so-called paradox of wu-wei, or the question of how one can consciously try not to try. Methodologically, this book represents a preliminary attempt to apply the contemporary theory of conceptual metaphor to the study of early Chinese thought. Although the focus is upon early China, both the subject matter and methodology have wider implications. The subject of wu-wei is relevant to aTrade Review"The scope of Slingerland's discussion and his mastery of the relevant scholarship make the book a useful and learned introduction to early Chinese thought."--Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies"Slingerland shows that wu-wei is a much richer and more pervasive notion than anyone has ever imagined. His work will convince even the most entrenched skeptic that it is an important and often neglected concern of just about every major religious thinker in traditional China."--Philip Ivanhoe, author of Confucian Moral Self Cultivation and Ethics in the Confucian Tradition"Edward Slingerland is one of a group of exciting and creative young scholars revolutionizing the study of Chinese history, culture, and religion by applying the recently developed tools of cognitive analysis, especially conceptual metaphor analysis. Effortless Action is a remarkable work that explores the meaning of the crucial concept of wu-wei in a depth never before achievable, showing how Chinese metaphorical thought forms a nexus around this most central of ideas. If you care about China, about its culture, history, and religion, you will find this book extremely enlightening. And if you are a humanist seeking a deeper understanding of culture and history, this book will open up new worlds to you."--George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley

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Book SynopsisDrawing on a large body of previously untapped literature, including documents from the Church Missionary Society and Bengali newspapers, Brian Pennington offers a fascinating portrait of the process by which Hinduism came into being. He argues against the common idea that the modern construction of religion in colonial India was simply a fabrication of Western Orientalists and missionaries. Rather, he says, it involved the active agency and engagement of Indian authors as well, who interacted, argued, and responded to British authors over key religious issues such as image-worship, sati, tolerance, and conversion.Trade ReviewThe flourishing of new knowledge of India's past by British and European scholars and administrators, the emergence of a post-theological notion of religion based on an comparative paradigm of universal religiousness in the contexts of cultural specificity, an increasingly insistent Protestant mission movement, a secular utilitarian notion of civilization, and a new discourse of Hindu among Indians in India were taking place simultaneously in the early nineteenth century. Brian Pennington has investigated each of these threads and their interwoven complexity and located them within the matrix of the post-colonial academic study of religion. A worthy and worthwhile contribution to understanding a misunderstood past. * Paul B. Courtright, Professor of South Asian Religions, Emory University *I read this study of cultural encounters between early-19th-century Hindus and British Christians with a sense of profound relief. The work complicates and problematises the simplifications that much of postcolonial studies operate with. By producing a richly textured account of religious debates and evangelical traditions in Britain, it not only provides a historical context for missionary lives, it also teases apart the multiple and contradictory strands within evangelicalism, normally taken to be a seamless monolith. Changes within modern Hinduism, similarly, are shown to be authentically internal developments that accommodate, but are not dictated by, the influence of new cultural encounters. Pennington deftly combines social and doctrinal themes, and his reading of Bengali, colonial, and missionary print cultures is stimulating. This is a book of many histories, all of which are complex and unexpected. * Tanika Sarkar, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University *Pennington has written an important book that redirects attention to historical agents that mainstream postcolonial scholarship has largely either oversimplified or passed over. He helps to advance a new wave of scholarship that rejects the essentialism of stereotypical, unitary visions not only of 'the East' but also of 'the West.' * Steven S. Maughan, Albertson College *Was Hinduism Invented? is a timely and cogent reconsideration of Hinduism as a word, a concept and, refreshingly, a reality that became apparent in sharp focus in 19th-century British India. Penningtons command of primary sources combines with alertness to current issues in the study of religion to demonstrate why Hinduism, properly understood, sheds new light on how and on what terms India and the West discovered one another, why Hindus and Christians relate as they do today, and how religions are best conceived and studied. * Francis X. Clooney, SJ, author of Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary *

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Book SynopsisSherman Jackson offers a trenchant examination of the career of Islam among the blacks of America. Jackson notes that no one has offered a convincing explanation of why Islam spread among Blackamericans (a coinage he explains and defends) but not among white Americans or Hispanics. The assumption has been that there is an African connection. In fact, Jackson shows, none of the distinctive features of African Islam appear in the proto-Islamic, black nationalist movements of the early 20th century. Instead, he argues, Islam owes its momentum to the distinctively American phenomenon of Black Religion, a God-centered holy protest against anti-black racism.Islam in Black America begins as part of a communal search for tools with which to combat racism and redefine American blackness. The 1965 repeal of the National Origins Quota System led to a massive influx of foreign Muslims, who soon greatly outnumbered the blacks whom they found here practicing an indigenous form of Islam. Immigrant Muslims would come to exercise a virtual monopoly over the definition of a properly constituted Islamic life in America. For these Muslims, the nemesis was not white supremacy, but the West. In their eyes, the West was not a racial, but a religious and civilizational threat. American blacks soon learned that opposition to the West and opposition to white supremacy were not synonymous. Indeed, says Jackson, one cannot be anti-Western without also being on some level anti-Blackamerican. Like the Black Christians of an earlier era struggling to find their voice in the context of Western Christianity, Black Muslims now began to strive to find their black, American voice in the context of the super-tradition of historical Islam. Jackson argues that Muslim tradition itself contains the resources to reconcile blackness, American-ness, and adherence to Islam. It is essential, he contends, to preserve within Islam the legitimate aspects of Black Religion, in order to avoid what Stephen Carter calls the domestication of religion, whereby religion is rendered incapable of resisting the state and the dominant culture. At the same time, Jackson says, it is essential for Blackamerican Muslims to reject an exclusive focus on the public square and the secular goal of subverting white supremacy (and Arab/immigrant supremacy) and to develop a tradition of personal piety and spirituality attuned to distinctive Blackamerican needs and idiosyncrasies.Trade ReviewDestined to become a fixture in any course dealing with Islam in America, Jackson's treatment of the subject offers many helpful insights while giving a voice to often-ignored Blackamerican Muslims. ...his work will contribute to the lively and growing debate over the place of Islam in America and the role of Blackamerican Muslims in the contemporary American religious scene. * The Virginia Quarterly Review *No one has ever analyzed the actual dynamics of Blackamerican Muslims with more acute insight, or more palpable good will, than Sherman Jackson. For both black and white Americans, Jackson sets forth a vision of Islam that is at once holistic and pragmatic: a source of inner strength, a builder of human character, and a bridge to salvation. This book is required reading for anyone who has ever pondered how the long span of Muslim history connects to the Blackamerican stake in an ongoing and enabling Islamic identity. * Bruce Lawrence, author of New Faiths, Old Fears: Muslims and Other Asian Immigrants in American Religious Life *No author is better positioned than Sherman Jackson to write Islam and the Blackamerican. A prominent scholar of Islam and major Muslim leader, Jackson draws on his impeccable scholarship and experience, providing a perspective on the past and charting a future course for Blackamerican Muslims. * John L. Esposito, author of What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam *This seminal examination of Blackamerican Islam is an excellent theoretical seating for and analysis of various communities since the beginning of the twentieth century. What makes this text groundbreaking is that it stands the tradition of the only real religion among African Americans is Christianity on its head. For almost all of the 20th century, Black Christian scholars have claimed hegemony over what is said about religion in the black community without mentioning the influences of Islam or even its increasing adherence. Well, Sherman Jackson has forced a new conversation with a skilled and sophisticated investigation from the point of view of a Blackamerican Islamic scholar. Things will never be the same again in the scholarship around black religion. * Aminah Beverly McCloud, author of African American Islam *A must read for anyone interested in an important and challenging interpretation of Islam and African Americans. * James H. Cone, author of Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Islam and Black Religion ; 2. The Third Resurrection and the Ghost of Edward Wilmot Blyden ; 3. Black Orientalism ; 4. Between Blackamerica, Immigrant Islam, and the Dominant Culture ; 5. Blackamerican Islam Between Religion, Nationalism, and Spirituality ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisAmerica emerged from the Reagan years transformed: socially, politically, technologically, and economically. This book tracks the changes of the 1980s in the context of Ronald Reagan's policies and convictions, providing a portrait of a president and of the watershed decade over which he presided.Trade Review"Ehrman's work deserves to become one of the standard reference works for the Reagan period." Steven F. Hayward, Weekly Standard "John Ehrman combines meticulous research, intellectual honesty, originality, and common sense to produce an interpretation of the Reagan era that is illuminating, refreshing, and highly readable." Glen Jeansonne, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison "Mr. Ehrman has... produced a fascinating tableau of the Reagan era... A brilliant new book, fully deserving its place on the Reagan bookshelf." Robert M. Smalley, Washington Times"

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Book Synopsis'India and Pakistan' provides an historical understanding of the chequered process of nation-building in the subcontinent. In particular, Talbot examines the role of 'parochial' allegiances and the impact of contemporary processes of economic and cultural globalisation on nationalist and localist allegiances.Trade Review'A thoughtful and up-to-date account that will be of great value to all those interested in the history of nationalism in South Asia.' English Historical Review '...a pithy commentary on the formation of modern national identities in the subcontinent.' Commonwealth and Comparative PoliticsTable of ContentsThe impact of the west and the rise of Indian nationalism; the Hindu tradition and nationalist ideology; competing identities in colonial India; the achievement of nationhood; nation, state and society in post-independence India and Pakistan.

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