New Books Network
South Asian Studies
South Asian Studies November 25, 2020

Caste Matters

Suraj Yengde

Hosted by Preethi Ramaprasad
“India is not yet a nation. It is still in an improvisational mode like a jazz band that needs to perform repeatedly together in order to uplift every voice in …

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Anthropology November 24, 2020

Enduring Cancer

Life, Death, and Diagnosis in Delhi

Dwaipayan Banerjee

Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
In Enduring Cancer: Life, Death, and Diagnosis in Delhi (Duke UP, 2020), Dwaipayan Banerjee explores the efforts of Delhi's urban poor to create a livable life with cancer as patients …
Language November 24, 2020

Indian Perspectives on Consciousness, Language and Self

The School of Recognition on Linguistics and Philosophy of Mind

Marco Ferrante

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
For many Indian philosophers, language is inextricably tied up with conceptualization. In Indian Perspectives on Consciousness, Language and Self (Routledge, 2020), Marco Ferrante shows how a set of tenth century …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel November 23, 2020

History and Collective Memory in South Asia, 1200-2000

Sumit Guha

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
In this far-ranging and erudite exploration of the South Asian past, Sumit Guha discusses the shaping of social and historical memory in world-historical context. He presents memory as the result …
South Asian Studies November 20, 2020

Jugaad Time

Ecologies of Everyday Hacking in India

Amit S. Rai

Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
In India, the practice of jugaad—finding workarounds or hacks to solve problems—emerged out of subaltern strategies of negotiating poverty, discrimination, and violence but is now celebrated in management literature as …
Indian Ocean World November 19, 2020

Diaspora and Nation in the Indian Ocean

Transnational Histories of Race and Space in Tanzania

Ned Bertz

Hosted by Michael Rumore
The vibrant Swahili coast port city of Dar es Salaam—literally, the “Haven of Peace”—hosts a population reflecting a legacy of long relations with the Arabian Peninsula and a diaspora emanating …
Hindu Studies November 18, 2020

Bollywood Horrors

Religion, Violence and Cinematic Fears in India

Ellen Goldberg, Aditi Sen and Brian Collins

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence and Cinematic Fears in India (Bloomsbury, 2020) is a multi-faceted and wide-ranging collection that examines cinematic representations of real-life horror, the religious aspects of horror imagery …
Third World Nationalism November 17, 2020

Making a World After Empire

The Bandung Moment and Its Political Afterlives

Christopher J. Lee

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo
In April 1955, twenty-nine countries from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East came together for a diplomatic conference in Bandung, Indonesia, intending to define the direction of the postcolonial world …
Islamic Studies November 13, 2020

The Sufi Paradigm and the Makings of a Vernacular Knowledge in Colonial India

The Case of Sindh (1851–1929)

Michel Boivin

Hosted by Shobhana Xavier
The Sufi Paradigm and the Makings of a Vernacular Knowledge in Colonial India: The Case of Sindh (1851-1929) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) by Michel Boivin maps the construction of a vernacular …
Food November 9, 2020

Sacred Cows and Chicken Manchurian

The Everyday Politics of Eating Meat in India

James Staples

Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
Bovine politics exposes fault lines within contemporary Indian society, where eating beef is simultaneously a violation of sacred taboos, an expression of marginalized identities, and a route to cosmopolitan sophistication …
Indian Ocean World November 9, 2020

Pearls, People, and Power

Pearling and Indian Ocean Worlds

Pedro Machado

Hosted by Kelvin Ng
Pearls, People, and Power: Pearling and Indian Ocean Worlds (Ohio University Press, 2020), co-edited by Pedro Machado, Joseph Christensen, Steve Mullins) is the first book to examine the trade, distribution …
South Asian Studies November 6, 2020

Gandhi and Rajchandra

The Making of the Mahatma

Uma Majmudar

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
This book traces the little-known yet unparalleled influence of Shrimad Rajchandra, Jain zaveri (jeweller)-cum-spiritual seeker, on Mahatma Gandhi. In examining original Gujarati writings of both Gandhi and Rajchandra, Majmudar explores …
Chinese Studies November 4, 2020

Tea War

A History of Capitalism in China and India

Andrew B. Liu

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
After water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. It is beloved by consumers in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and it comes in a bewildering …
Architecture November 3, 2020

The Contemporary Hindu Temple

Fragments for a History

Annapurna Garimella

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Contemporary Hindu temples raise aesthetic, economic, political and philosophical questions about the role of architecture in making a place for the sacred in society. This book presents the Hindu temple …
Literary Studies October 28, 2020

How Dead Languages Work

Coulter George

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
After reading How Dead Languages Work (Oxford University Press 2020), Coulter George hopes you might decide to learn a bit of ancient Greek or Sanskrit, or maybe dabble in a …
British Studies October 28, 2020

The Formation of the Colonial State in India

Scribes, Paper and Taxes, 1760-1860

Hayden J. Bellenoit

Hosted by Charles Prior
When he appeared before the British House of Commons in the wake of the Stamp Act crisis, Benjamin Franklin reminded his audience that the American colonies were governed ‘at the …
South Asian Studies October 26, 2020

The Authority of Female Speech in Indian Goddess Traditions

Anway Mukhopadhyay

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Contemporary debates on “mansplaining” foreground the authority enjoyed by male speech, and highlight the way it projects listening as the responsibility of the dominated, and speech as the privilege of …
South Asian Studies October 23, 2020

Brewing Resistance

Indian Coffee House and the Emergency in Postcolonial India

Kristin Plys

Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
In 1947, decolonization promised a better life for India's peasants, workers, students, Dalits, and religious minorities. By the 1970s, however, this promise had not yet been realized. Various groups fought …
Indian Ocean World October 19, 2020

The Making of an Indian Ocean World-Economy, 1250–1650

Princes, Paddy fields, and Bazaars

Ravi Palat

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi
Ravi Palat’s The Making of an Indian Ocean World-Economy, 1250–1650: Princes, Paddy fields, and Bazaars (Palgrave, 2015) counters eurocentric notions of long-term historical change by drawing upon the histories of …
American Studies October 16, 2020

Here, There, and Elsewhere

The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World

Tahseen Shams

Hosted by Shobhana Xavier
Here, There, and Elsewhere: The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World (Stanford University Press, 2020) by Tahseen Shams (Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto) reconceptualizes …