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While much has been written on the growth of information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services in India, little is known about the people who work in these industries, about the nature of the work itself, and about its wider social and cultural ramifications. The papers in this collection combine empirical research with theoretical insight to fill this gap and explore questions about the trajectory of globalization in India. The themes covered include: (a) sourcing and social structuring of the new global workforce; (b) the work process, work culture, regimes of control and resistance in IT-enabled industries; (c) work, culture and identity; (d) nations, borders and cross-border flows.

Eating together unites people and has a significant impact on their physical, social, and emotional development. This book looks at practices and traditions of sharing food prevalent among major religious communities in India, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity, and Islam.Food insecurity is one of the major problems every country in the world is facing today because of increasing population, climate change, agrarian distress, wars and conflicts, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Including case studies from across India, this book examines the necessity and effectiveness of food-sharing practices in temples, mosques, and gurudwaras, among others. Emphasising the importance of these practices for the social and physical well-being of the most vulnerable sections of society, it showcases how traditional religious practices of food sharing have contributed to tackling hunger, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The volume also offers long-term solutions to address underlying issues which cause hunger and food insecurity.One of the first to study food sharing and alms-giving practices in India, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of sociology, anthropology, food studies, religion, security studies, political economy, public policy, and South Asian history and culture.

This book studies how transnational migrants create a sense of home in their host countries. It draws on case studies of Sri Lankan migrants living in Australia to argue that'home'is an existential experience rather than a fixed entity. The author looks at how the sense of home arises as a fresh category which is critical in defining one's existentiality in the host society.Going beyond the conventional methodological approach of an ethnographer objectivizing other's sense of home into fixed categories, the book attempts to foreground the immigrant's articulation of home which evolves parallel to their being. It reveals how three important aspects of our lives – time, space and memory – intersect with the trajectories of migration. The author also delves into the ways in which migrants engage in building a home as a way of creating materiality in their dwelling practice.Unique and compelling, the book will be highly useful in studies of diaspora, globalisation and transnational migration. It will be of interest to students, researchers and scholars of anthropology, migration and transnational studies, as well as sociology and other related disciplines.

Tribal societies in India observe a diverse set of religious practices which are a quintessential part of their community life. This handbook explores rituals, beliefs, ceremonies and festivals, liturgy, knowledge and traditions that tribal people practice today and traces the history of their interaction with other religions, communities and cultures.The book provides analytical, intellectual, and cultural insights into the religious tradition of tribes within the interactive space of a pan-Indian civilisation. It examines contemporary religious practice within tribes while also exploring changes either brought on by interactions or political interventions. The volume reflects on the intersections of cultural or political life of communities and their religious worldviews. The book also discusses the processes of assimilation or adoption of different religion or religious traditions by tribes and the challenges of detribalisation and shrinking populations of vulnerable groups. It explores both established and emerging dynamics in the field of tribe and religion and provides a look into the unique systems of kinship, worship and life within many different tribal communities in India.This and its companion handbook, The Routledge Handbook of Tribe and Religions in India: Contemporary Readings on Spirituality, Belief and Identity, provide a comprehensive look into the religious life and practices of a very diverse group of tribes in India. It will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the fields of religion, anthropology, indigenous and tribal studies, social and cultural anthropology, sociology of culture, sociology of religion, development studies, history, political science, folkloristic, and colonialism.

In the annals of India's history, a monumental uprising unfolded in 2020, echoing the resilience and coming together of large sections of its agrarian base. Instigated by the contentious farm laws of 2020, the Farmers'Movement burgeoned into a year-long saga of protest and perseverance, ending only in December 2021 after the passing of the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 by the Indian Parliament. From the initial demand for law repeal to the multifaceted growth of the movement, the book traces the journey of the Farmers'Movement, as each essay dissects the socio-political dynamics, cultural nuances, and mass solidarity that underpinned the protests, including focused analyses from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and the Sikh diaspora in the United Kingdom. This anthology chronicles the ebb and flow of a nation's spirit, encapsulating the symbiotic relationship between theory and praxis, between change and continuity. It serves as a testament to the power of collective resistance and a roadmap for future struggles, ensuring that the legacy of the Farmers'Movement endures beyond the pages of history.This volume is an interdisciplinary project and will be of interest to scholars from diverse fields such as economics, sociology, public policy, political science, history, political geography, gender studies, cultural studies, international studies, architecture, media studies, psychology, and ethnomusicology.

This book explores Muslim communities in Southeast Asia and the integration of Islamic culture with the diverse ethnic cultures of the region, offering a look at the practice of cultural and religious coexistence in various realms.The volume traces the origins and processes of adoption, transmission, and adaptation of Islam by diverse ethnic communities such as the Malay, Acehnese, Javanese, Sundanese, the Bugis, Batak, Betawi, and Madurese communities, among others. It examines the integration of Islam within local politics, cultural networks, law, rituals, education, art, and architecture, which engendered unique regional Muslim identities.Additionally, the book illuminates distinctive examples of cultural pluralism, cosmopolitanism, and syncretism that persisted in Islamic religious practices in the region owing to its maritime economy and reputation as a marketplace for goods, languages, cultures, and ideas.As part of the Global Islamic Cultures series that investigates integrated and indigenized Islam, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of theology and religion, Islamic studies, religious history, political Islam, cultural studies, and Southeast Asian studies. It also offers an engaging read for general audiences interested in world religions and cultures.

This book explores the idea of Muslim diaspora in context of Muslim communities in the United Kingdom. It critically looks at the notion of ummah and presents a comprehensive account of South Asian Muslims in London.Employing qualitative research methods and drawing on extensive fieldwork, it delves into the identification and transnational connections of Muslims in Britain. It shows the ways in which religious identity, practices and experiences may instigate diasporas focusing on South Asian Muslims in London — Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims — who account for 3.6 per cent of the total population. Further, the inter as well as intra group dynamics and studies how Muslims of different ethnic background settled in the same geo-political context engage with the notion of ummah.The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of religion, especially Islam, politics, British studies and South Asian studies.

British Assam holds an important place in the history of the British Empire in South Asia. This is especially so in the context of colonial frontier- making. It is in this regard that the book examines what it culturally meant to be a hunter, peasant or rebel between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries in the British Assam frontier. The book highlights that these figures are of conceptual significance. While the figures were of contrastive nature, the complexity of underlying relations through and in which British colonialism constituted and reproduced itself in Assam could be uncovered from a study of these contrastive figures. Using a wide spectrum of archival sources, the hunters'memoirs, the peasants'ballads and a rebel's worldview are examined as the cultural forms through which one can study these relations that generated the sense of colonial reality in these figures. Through these issues, the book examines what constituted the nature of the British Assam frontier, and how colonialism and capitalism shaped and reproduced an imperial frontier.Part of the Empire and Frontiers book series, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of history, cultural studies, anthropology, literary studies, frontiers and borderland studies and South Asian studies.

This book examines the process of domination of a civilization and the creation of a vast empire by the British in India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It explores how they extended and maintained their tenuous rule over India through coercion, violent oppression, and exploration of knowledge of this vast region and its people.Excavating archival materials, this volume looks at extensive ethnographic surveys, the study of history, cartography, archaeology, native languages, and literatures from colonial times. It takes a critical look at the attempts of unravelling the social structural principles such as caste and religious groups and also how power was used in multiple forms and contexts to establish dominance over the people of the subcontinent and its resources. The essays in this volume are from a period when the technologies of colonization were being experimented with and reect a mixed bag of admiration, derogation, and paternalism from those holding positions of power and responsibility, including some elite Indians. It further examines the emergence of a sense of nationalism, a critique of the Eurocentric views of the colonial masters, indicating the contribution of Western education to the formation of an Indian identity that finds resonance in modern times.This book will be useful to students and researchers of anthropology, sociology, public administration, modern history, colonial studies, and demography. It will also be of interest to civil servants, students of history, Indian culture and society, religions, colonial history, law, and South Asia studies.

WhatsApp is used by over half a billion people in India today in all fields – in business, corporate and informal sectors, in government, for education and among friends, families and acquaintances. This book critically explores the social messaging app's rapid expansion in India and its growing influence and looks at whether, as a form of horizontal communication, it poses a challenge to more traditional structures of communication.The book examines WhatsApp's spread in the personal and professional lives of Indians and the myriad ways in which people in India are using the app in social and business interactions, including among people living with disabilities. Using case studies, interviews, surveys and in-depth research, it analyses key aspects of WhatsApp's massive popularity and its impact on how people communicate. It also explores its impact on the psycho-social dynamics in India, including the dissemination of fake news and politically motivated content, and the consequent need for media regulation in the country.One of the first books to analyse the pervasiveness of WhatsApp and social media apps in different areas of Indian society, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of media studies, communication studies, digital media, cultural studies, cyberculture studies, sociology and social policy and media law.

This volume explores the historical trajectory of the spread of Islam in South Asia and how the engagements of the past have played a crucial role in the making of the present outfits of South Asian Islam.Islam in South Asia has maintained a distinct role while imbibing cultural, social, ethnic, folk, and artistic networks of the subcontinent in diverse echelons. In an unequivocal analysis, this volume showcases the visible varieties of Islam from an array of regional cultural, ethnic, and vernacular groups. While many characteristics remain distinct in different provinces or regions of South Asia, similarities are palpable in etiquettes, customary laws, art, and architecture. More than regional differences, various ethnic groups from all poles of the Indian subcontinent have paved the way for the dissimilar landscapes of Islam, in tandem with differences in language, culture, and festivals. The case studies in this book exhibit forms of cultural pluralism in the communities, which have helped in building a cohesive community.Part of the ‘Global Islamic Cultures'series that looks at integrated and indigenized Islam, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of religion, religious history, theology, study of Islamic law and politics, cultural studies, and South Asian Studies. It will also be useful to general readers who are interested in world religions and cultures.

The 21st Century in 100 Games is an interactive public history of the contemporary world. It creates a ludological retelling of the 21st century through 100 games that were announced, launched, and played from the turn of the century. The book analyzes them and then uses the games as a means of entry to examine both key events in the 21st century and the evolution of the gaming industry. Adopting a tri-pronged perspective — the reviewer, the academic, and an industry observer — it studies games as ludo-narratological artefacts and resituates games in a societal context by examining how they affect and are engaged with by players, reviewers, the gaming community, and the larger gaming industry.This book will be a must read for readers interested in video games, new media, digital culture (s), culture studies, and history.

This volume highlights and examines how Indigenous Peoples continue to inhabit the world in counter-modern ways. It illustrates how communalist practices and cooperative priorities of many Indigenous communities are simultaneously key to their cultural survival while being most vulnerable to post-colonial erasure. Chapters contributed by community collectives, elders, lawyers, scholars, multi-generational collaboratives, and others are brought together to highlight the communal and cooperative strategies that counter the modernizing tropes of capitalist, industrialist, and representational hegemonies. Furthermore, the authors of the book explicitly interrogate the roles of witness, collaborator, advocate, and community leader as they consider ethical relations in contexts of financialized global markets, ongoing land grabbing and displacement, epistemic violence, and post-colonial erasures.Lucid and topical, the book will be indispensable for students and scholars of anthropology, modernity, capitalism, history, sociology, human rights, minority studies, Indigenous studies, Asian studies, and Latin American studies.

This book explores the fascinating and complex histories of Islam and China. Meticulously researched and captivating, it provides a comprehensive history of the encounters and relationship between these two great civilizations, as well as the unique development and indigenization of Islam within China.The work looks at the early interactions between Arab Muslim traders and the Tang dynasty in the seventh century, shedding light on the establishment of the first Muslim communities in China. The narrative then progresses through subsequent dynasties, examining the ebbs and flows of Muslim influence, integration, and indigenization. It looks at the emergence of the Hui and other Muslim ethnic groups, who play a central role in the story of Chinese Islam. By delving into their customs, beliefs, and distinctive practices, the authors unveil the intricate process of indigenization, where Islam becomes deeply rooted in Chinese culture and society. One of the unique features of this collection is the nuanced analysis of the impact of major political events, as well as gradual social changes, on the process of adoption and transmission of Islam in China. The authors also highlight the role of economic activities, Chinese Islamic scholars, and key architectural landmarks in this multifaceted history.Part of the Global Islamic Cultures series that looks at integrated and indigenized Islam, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of religion, Islamic studies, religious history, political Islam, cultural studies, Islamic law, and Asian studies. It will also be useful to readers who are interested in world religions, theology, and cultures.

This book encapsulates a long period of history of human progress by highlighting crucial social, economic, and cultural dynamics. It presents recent historiography and new analytical tools used to analyse multi-dimensional themes involved in social formations in different parts of the world. This is a reader-friendly book with simple and lucid language and fulfils the pressing needs of students studying the course on Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the ancient and medieval world at various universities across the world. The summary, key words, and representative questions at the end of each chapter would assist in revision and a better understanding of the issues dealt with therein. A detailed chapter-end reference would enable and motivate the readers to engage in further studies for a better understanding of the themes.This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and academics in the area of history – ancient and medieval world history, in particular, and anthropology. It will also be an interesting read for general readers interested in knowing about the ancient and medieval world.

This book presents a unique rendering of love in South Asia by reading love through the specific lens of dissent. It presents multiple articulations of dissenting love in contemporary South Asia including negotiations with parents to assert choice of partner, migration, elopement, live-in relationships, singlehood, ‘new'ideas of masculinities, and embracing diverse sexual identities. It studies these forms of dissent in the context of changing legal discourses, impact of media in everyday life, and transforming social attitudes. As such, this book is the first of its kind to analyse the myriad ways in which love and dissent constitute each other shaping the social, political, and cultural mores and movements of South Asia. The contributions are based on ethnographic research cutting across diverse religious, ethnic, and gender and sexual identities of South Asia.Part of the Social Movements and Transformative Dissent series, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of sociology, anthropology, history, geography, political science, gender studies, and media studies. It will also appeal to academics who study South Asia with a special focus on love, intimacy, sexuality, marriage, migration, history, politics and media.

This handbook explores the diversity of religious practice in tribal cultures in India. It looks at the interactive spaces where the religious practices of tribes and other communities have changed and adapted through the years in contemporary India.Tribe as a social category emerged in India during the colonial period; this handbook departs from the conventional approaches to studying ‘tribal religion'and analyses the intersections of spirituality, rituals, gender and identities within tribal religion through a crosscultural and pan-Indian perspective. Tribes in India follow various religious denominations including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and traditional indigenous faiths. The chapters in this volume provide insights into the cross-cultural religiosity of tribes via ethnographic accounts and the study of animism, life cycle rituals, ancestor worship, shrines and religious institutions, revivalism, religious identities, religious conversion, transcendental religious spaces and the space for gender, identity and politics within religious traditions. It also discusses conflicts, contestations, anxieties within and the politics of religious traditions and identities in India and how tribal communities and the state negotiate with these issues.This and its companion handbook, The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Readings on Tribe and Religions in India: Emerging Negotiations, provide a comprehensive look into the religious life and practices of a very diverse group of tribes in India. This book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the fields of religion, anthropology, indigenous and tribal studies, social and cultural anthropology, sociology of culture, sociology of religion, development studies, history, political science, folkloristic, and colonialism.

This book examines how micro contextual issues inspire collective social action forms against everyday situations of crises and crimes through an inter-disciplinary, ethnographic, and comparative research conducted among Bishnois and Indian South Africans.Exploring the role of the publics that practise and mobilise their social movement imaginations, the work delves into peoples'ability to move beyond their immediate contexts and politicise multiple social spaces and discursive spheres around them to project their causes. Mapping an anti-poaching movement spearheaded by the Bishnois of Western Rajasthan in India and an anti-substance abuse movement led by the historical Indian diaspora of South Africa, the author argues that such contemporary forms of organised social action replete with alternative frames, symbols, and repertoires possess key requisites to be understood as the ‘Newer Social Movements'of the Global South.The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of social and protest movements, migration and diaspora studies, political science, social anthropology, and ethnography.

This book offers new approaches and insights into the ongoing and topical discussions on the concepts and definitions of the global south. Instead of adding to the debates about how to properly define the'global south'as such, it aims at emphasising concrete experiences and accounts of (post-)colonial dislocation and disidentification as both a starting point and linchpin for the subsequent exploration. It brings into conversation theories and interrogations of the'global south'with specific local studies, without presenting them as the romanticised'other'or as'non-western'narratives. As a bold initiation of future conversations on issues that both directly and indirectly affect ideas about the global south, the volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of critical theory, literary and cultural studies, and global south studies.

This book presents a critical analysis of sense-making practices through an exploration of acoustic, creative, and artistic spaces. It studies how local cultures of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch are impacted by global discourses and media, such as television, popular music, digital media, and literature. The authors look at sense-making practices and spatial discourses through an interconnected discussion on thought and experience that seeks to present a multidimensional cartography of the global, the local, and the glocal, to closely analyze the phenomenon of globalization. The volume is an investigation of the possibilities of alternate, sustainable modes of being and existing in a world which requires a unified, ethical, biopolitical worldview that challenges the disparity of its fragments while speculating on their synesthetic conditionality.A unique contribution, the book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of English literature, media studies, cultural studies, literary cultures, post-colonial studies, globalization studies, philosophy, critical theory, sociology, and social anthropology.

This book looks at India of the 1950s and 1960s while it was still emerging from two centuries of colonial rule and striving to come together as a nation. It critically explores the history of nationalism and identity in Northeastern India, a region with diverse ethnolinguistic communities and people, through the personal history of the first Manipuri (Meitei) direct recruit in the Indian Administrative Services.The book weaves in autobiographical stories with the story of Northeast India, capturing its politics, socio-cultural distinctiveness and milieus that set the region apart from the rest of the country. It covers the career of the author in the IAS, serving in Manipur and Karnataka, with the Union Government, and finally as Secretary for the northeastern region. Through these, the book tells the story of a changing society, of a developing nation and a people on the move. It shows how borders and barriers were collapsing and being formed at the same time and how the country was dealing with it. The book is a unique and significant addition to the literature on Manipur; it deepens our understanding of the northeastern states and the complex interactions of the people of the region with the rest of India.Part of the Transitions in Northeastern India series, this book will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of modern history, sociology, social anthropology and postcolonial studies, particularly those concerned with India and Northeast India.

This book examines the nature of ethnopolitics evolving in the Darjeeling hills, located in the Eastern Himalayas. It highlights how in the wake of regional politics minorities pursue alternative avenues to attain rights and recognition. The book provides an astute analysis of competing claims of culture and identity engendered both by demands for regional autonomy and struggles for scheduled tribe status. It highlights the varied forms of ethnic demands often demonstrated through performative and discursive claims. The volume initiates a timely discussion on the discourse of recognition, politics of difference, and alterity which has wider implications and applications to understand South Asian realities.Drawing on rich empirical research, this work will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics, anthropology, sociology, tribal studies, ethnography, minority studies, and South Asian studies.

This book looks at various syncretic traditions in India, such as Bhakti, Nath Yogi, Sufi, Imam Shahi, Ismailis, Khojas, and others, and presents an elaborate picture of a redefined cultural space through them.It also investigates different syncretisms—Hindu–Muslim, Hindu– Muslim–Christian and Aboriginal-Ethnic—to understand diverse aspects of hybridity within the Indian nation space. It discusses how Indian nationalism was composed of different opinions from its inception, reflecting its rich diversity and pluralistic traditions. The book traces the emergence of multiple contours of Indian nationalism through the historical trajectory of religious diversity, lingering effects of colonialism, and experimentation with secularism.This volume caters to scholars and students interested in cultural studies, religion studies, pilgrimage studies, history, social anthropology, historical sociology, historical geography, religion, and art history. It will also be of interest to political theorists and general readers.

This book studies the internal framework of the Indo-Pacific region and examines the strategic issues faced by the countries that belong to it. Over the years, the Indo-Pacific region has become a prime driver of global economic growth and has generated considerable interest from countries both within and without. The region is now witnessing an intensified great power competition for greater geostrategic space, thus shaping the 21st-century world order. The volume focuses on the emerging strategies of the main actors involved in this competition. It discusses various key issues such as the purpose of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and its post-pandemic agenda, the conceptualisation of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) amid an intensifying Sino-US great power competition, the strategies of ASEAN and South Korea, China's activities in the Indo-Pacific, economic architecture and supply chain disruption in the region, as well as the geopolitical strategy of the European Union for the Indo-Pacific.A crucial study of the Indo-Pacific region in the post-COVID-19 world, the book gives fresh insights into the areas of convergence and divergence in the strategic visions of the many regional actors. It will be of great interest to policymakers as well as students and academics in the fields of political science, international relations, foreign policy, geopolitics, security studies, strategic studies, as well as area studies, namely East and Southeast Asian studies, European Union studies, American studies and Australian studies.

India has two key social formations, the castes and the tribes. Both groups can be studied from the perspective of society (samaj) and culture (sanskriti). However, studies on castes largely deal with social structure and less on culture, while studies on tribes focus more on culture than on social structure. What has resulted from this bias is a general misunderstanding that tribes have a rich culture but lack social structure.This volume emerges out of an in-depth empirical study of the social structure of five Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Gujarat, western India, viz., Gamit, Vasava, Chaudhari, Kukana and Warli. It analyses and compares their internal social organisation consisting of institutions of household, family, lineage, clan, kinship rules and marriage networks. The book also deals with changes taking place in the social structure of contemporary tribal societies. While the focus is mainly on the data from tribes of western India, the issues are relevant to pan-Indian tribes.An important contribution to the studies on tribes of India, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of anthropology, sociology, demography, history, tribal studies, social work, public policy and law. It will also be of interest to professionals working with NGOs and civil society, programme and policy formulating authorities and bureaucrats.

This book explores food in India and its evolution from prehistoric times to contemporary food trends while highlighting the intersections between culture, rituals, environment, and the economy with food, ingredients, and eating practices.It looks at the history of food and food preferences in India by studying historical, medicinal, and religious texts. The book analyses preferences and taboos from social, anthropological, cultural, political, and economic perspectives, mapping how food practices influence and are influenced by religion, production and distribution, ecology, and social class. It also examines consumption practices, problems with food production, agricultural distress, food and farming reforms, globalisation of food, the adoption of sustainable practices, and the future of farming, diets, and eating.Engaging and comprehensive, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, political studies, development studies, and food studies.

This book explores the ‘folk'performance genre of Kobigaan, a dialogic song-theatre form in which performers verse-duel in contemporary West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. The book shows how the genre, thought to be a nearly extinct form, is still prevalent in the region. The author shows how, like many other ‘folk'practices in South and South-East Asia, the content and format of this genre has undergone vital changes, thus raising questions of authenticity, patronage, and cultural politics. She captures live performances of Kobigaan through ethnographies spread across borders—from village rituals to urban festivals, and from Bengali cinema to television and new media. While understanding Kobigaan from the practitioners'points of view, this book also explores the crucial issues of gender, marginalisation, and representation that are true of any performance genre. Drawing on case studies, it underlines the issues of artistic agency, empowerment, cultural labour and heritage, rituals, authenticity, creative industries, media, gender, and identity politics.Part of the South Asian History and Culture series, this book is a major intervention in South Asian folklore and performance studies. It also expands into the larger disciplines of literature, social and cultural movements in South Asia, ethnomusicology, and the politics of performance.

This book brings rarely voiced lives and experiences of women in Nepal to light and combines rich ethnography with discourse analysis. Multifaceted and critical, the volume situates its narrative in the profoundly transformative period after the turn of the century when ‘New Nepal'was rising on the horizon and sheds light on Nepali women's experiences in multiple sites, crossing class and ethnic lines. It is based on extensive fieldwork among women domestic workers, construction workers, street vendors, women from the indigenous community of Hyolmo, and others. Mainly through an ethnographic approach, the author explores Nepali women's experiences on the ground, mostly situated in classed, ethnic, or other socio-cultural peripheries in Nepali social landscape.Through the unusually intimate narrative on these women from the global south, who are still prone to be cast into a deeply colonial, simplistic image of ‘victimized women', readers will get a nuanced perspective of the multidimensional diversity among these women as well as a sense of kinship with oneself.The book will be invaluable for researchers and students of gender studies, global south studies, development studies, cultural anthropology/ethnography, Nepal studies, and feminist geography. It will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, geographers, policymakers, and those with an interest in global gender issues.

This book formulates a new pedagogy of death with regard to Northeast India and shows how this pedagogy offers an understanding of alternative knowledge systems and epistemes.In documenting a range of customs and practices pertaining to death, dying and the afterlife among the diverse ethnic communities of Northeast India, the book offers new soteriological, epistemological, sociological and phenomenological perspectives on death. Through an examination of these eschatological practices and their anthropological, theological and cultural moorings, the book aims to reach an understanding of notions of indigeneity with regard to Northeast India. The contributors to this book draw upon a range of subjects— from songs, literary texts, monuments, relics and funerary objects to biographies to folktales to stories of spirit possessions and supernatural encounters. It collates the research of scholars primarily from Northeast India, but also from Eastern India and offers an interdisciplinary analysis of these various belief systems and practices.This book will of interest to those researchers and scholars interested in South Asia in general and Northeast India in particular, and also to those interested in the social anthropology of religion, cultural studies, indigenous studies, folklore studies and Himalayan studies.

This book focuses on Sikh communities in east and northeast India. It studies settlements in Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, and Manipur to understand the Indian Sikhs through the lens of their dispersal to the plains and hills far from Punjab. Drawing on robust historical and ethnographic sources such as official documents, media accounts, memoirs, and reports produced by local Sikh institutions, the author studies the social composition of the immigrants and surveys the extent of their success in retaining their community identity and recreating their memories of home at their new locations. He uses a nuanced notion of the internal diaspora to look at the complex relationships between home, host, and community.As an important addition to the study of Sikhism, this book fills a significant gap and widens the frontiers of Sikh studies. It will be indispensable for students and researchers of sociology and social anthropology, history, migration and diaspora studies, religion, especially Sikh studies, cultural studies, as well as the Sikh diaspora worldwide.

Lives in Motion celebrates dance in Thailand, focusing on the diversity of Thailand's dance cultures and their place in today's world. Giving voice to eminent artists and scholars on the complex roles that Thailand is pursuing for artful movement at home and abroad, the book provides key perspectives on Thai dance traditions and practitioners. It explores the many forms and meanings in contemporary dance, changing local traditions in the country, the evolution of Thai dance on the global stage, and hybrid features of the Thai dance world.The book examines how hybridity has been integral to dance cultures in Thailand and discusses how they have actively adapted and negotiated their knowledge in relation to modernity and globalization. Developing new models, standards and sites for dance, movement and theater, dance in Thai has been advancing in innovative ways, whether it is to include fresh forms of skilled bodily movement or to expand in new arenas like tourism and online platforms. Similarly, old systems of training, which included artists'homes, palaces, and temples, have been adapted into the new world of modern education, media, home schooling, and new community rituals.A pioneering contribution on Thai performing arts, this volume examines contemporary Thai dance cultures in the local, national, regional, and global contexts. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of dance and performance studies, cultural studies, Southeast Asia studies, and art.

This volume is a critical investigation into the contemporary phenomenon of the dissensus of the globe and the planet, and the new terrains of consciousness that need to be negotiated towards a possibility for transformation. It examines the possibilities of alternate, sustainable modes of being and existing in a world which requires a unified, ethical, biopolitical worldview. The book explores themes like philosophical posthumanism and planetary concerns; disruption of cultural and intellectual inequality; bodily movement through nomadic subjectivity; dystopic spatialities of game(re)play; globalization, and speculative imaginaries of the body; and theory of multiplicity. It also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on human beings, the role of the neoliberal media, the question of rights of robots and cyborgs in sci-fi movies, and representation of refugees in literature.This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of English literature, political philosophy, cultural studies, literary cultures, post-colonial studies, critical theory, and social anthropology.

This volume explores the inherent pluralism of Hinduism through ethnographic and philosophical evidence as presented in the Journal of Anthropological Society of Bombay. The essays dated 1886–1936 represent a period that marked the emergence of a European-educated native intelligentsia with a rationalist outlook.The chapters cover a wide range of topics from Tree Worship in Mohenjo Daro, the origin of the Hindu Trimurti, interpretation of Avestic and Vedic Texts, to the second set of more localized chapters that cover the Muhammadan Castes of Bengal, the Tenets and Practices of a Certain Class of Faqirs in Bengal, the Theoretical History of the Goddess Yellamma, and much more. Written during a particular historical as well as intellectual period that reflected certain key patterns – a period just following the Bengal Renaissance of the nineteenth century that ushered in the ideologies of a reformative Hinduism – this volume highlights how religions of all denominations have influenced each other and appear to have mingled beliefs and practices from multiple sources. It shows how tolerance and inclusiveness along with syncretism have been part of India's religious and social history.This book will be of interest to students and researchers of religions, history, anthropology, sociology, political science, and sociology of religion. It will also be useful to those interested in inter-religious dialogues and civil society.

This volume explores the rich pre-history, history, and oral history of the northeast region of India––a land-locked region that is home to over 350 ethnolinguistic communities. Despite its uniqueness and diversity, little is known to the outside world. The book studies the vibrant and diverse socio-political and cultural history of this region through a transdisciplinary perspective, covering a wide range of topics such as the pre-history, medieval and colonial histories of Assam, the geopolitics of the creation of independent states from undivided Assam, oral narratives from Manipur, prehistoric cultures of Meghalaya, the Naga National Movement, Sikkim's Namgyal dynasty, and Tripura's transition from monarchy to democracy. It also discusses the invaluable contributions made by Professor Mohammad Taher (1931–2015), who laid the foundation of geography in Northeast India.A compelling exploration of this geo-politically contested space, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of anthropology, archaeology, history, human geography, South Asian studies, and minority studies.

This book examines globalization and urban cultures in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, from a socio-cultural view. It focuses on the evolving nature of urbanity in the city due to globalization and the global flow of information, while framing the changing patterns of everyday cultures and practices.The volume explores key linkages and factors in urban transformation; the history and heritage of Old Dhaka; globalization, diverse urban cultures and ethnic spaces; changes in food habits, clothing, health practices, and recreation; changing forms of festivals, marriages, and religious practices; the situation of indigenous people in Old Dhaka; and the roles that need to be played by NGOs, civil society, and the local government. With its rich ethnographic case studies and field-based evidence, it discusses the relations between technology-driven economic activities and increasing cultural homogenization. It traces developments induced by cultural globalization and includes contemporary debates along with comparisons of Asian and global perspectives.This book will be a useful resource for scholars and researchers of urban studies, city studies, urban sociology, social anthropology, cultural anthropology, political sociology, development studies, South Asian studies and cultural studies, and to those interested in Bangladesh.

This book explores the transitions in the adivasi identity as well as in the political representation of adivasi communities in Bangladesh.It traces the use of categories such as “primitive”, “tribe”, and “adivasi” in post-colonial Bangladesh, both in the political discourse and in everyday life. The volume studies the history of these essentialized categories used for indigenous communities within the hierarchies of power and identity. It also analyses the diverse articulations of indigeneity through ethnographic narratives, exploring the formations of newer traditions and identity. The author highlights the persistence of the terms “simple” and “primitive” in contemporary discourses while also sharing examples of complex mediations and appropriation of these categories by adivasi groups in Bangladesh.This book will be of interest to researchers and students of sociology, social ethnography, social and cultural anthropology, indigenous studies, exclusion studies, development studies, political sociology, and South Asian studies.

The book takes a close look into the definitions and categorizations of marginality, inequality, agency and location in society. It examines the systems of marginalization and othering by exploring perspectives of socially excluded people and communities in Northeast India.The context of Northeast India provides unique perspectives on the debates around marginality due to the existence of multi-ethnic cultures in the region and since its prolonged colonial historical experience alienated it from the rest of India. This volume focuses on the issues pertaining to tribe, caste, gender identity, religion, and physical disability in the region. It also looks at the roles which institutions, education and the media play in the creation and perpetuation of social exclusion and the centre—periphery binary. With essays from eminent scholars and social scientists, the book discusses themes such as citizenship and borders, national and tribal identity, the role of the law, government and policies for countering exclusion and the challenges which socially excluded groups and communities face to gain agency, autonomy and the right to equality.This book will be useful for scholars and researchers of sociology, Northeast India studies, political sociology, development studies, political science, gender studies, and social anthropology.

This book presents a pragmatic engagement between the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari and various facets of Indian society, culture and art. The universal appeal of the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari finds its due place in India with a set of innovative analyses and radical interpretations that reimagine India as a complex multiplicity.The volume brings together scholars from various disciplines and theoretical orientations to explore a wide range of issues in contemporary India, like dalit and caste studies, nationalism, gender question, art and cinema, and so on under the rubric of Deleuzo-Guattarian philosophy.This interdisciplinary book will be useful to scholars and researchers of philosophy, anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, postcolonial studies and South Asian studies.

This book presents inter-disciplinary research on contemporary borders with contributions from scholars and cultural practitioners located in different contexts in the Americas and South Asia. There has been significant sociological work on borders; however there is a relative dearth of humanities research on contemporary border realities, particularly in South Asia.This volume introduces frameworks of critical insights and knowledge on border narratives and cultural productions. It addresses and goes beyond the impact of the partition in South Asia to train a unique comparative and aesthetic lens on borders and borderlands in relation to Latin America and the U.S.A. through oral narratives, photographs, ‘objects', films, theatre, journals, and songs. It maps border perspectives and their reception in a framework of cultural politics. It revolves around themes such as violence and modes of survival; women's narratives of migration, trafficking and incarceration; abduction of children; vulnerability as experience; rationalities of mass killings; and proliferation of countercultures to map border perspectives in a framework of cultural politics. First of its kind, the volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of comparative literary and cultural studies, South Asian studies, Latin American studies, border studies, arts and aesthetics, visual studies, sociology, comparative politics, international relations, and peace and conflict resolution studies.

This book explicates “bullying” as a concept and as a social and cultural phenomenon that has become a defining reality of the times in which we live. The author begins in the arena where it is first, and most acutely individually, experienced—in school—and expands to other institutions and areas of social life—the family, the workplace, and the local, national, and international spheres, extending the concept of bullying to the global arena to uncover the social and institutional root causes of the extreme forms of bullying such as trafficking, torture, terrorism, and genocide.The book discusses the steps taken to address these issues and analyzes their efficacy. It explores the concept of epigenetics, brain development, childhood experiences, and other psychological factors that contribute to bullying behaviors and predispositions. The book investigates and compares anti-bullying and anti-violence initiatives taken particularly in the U.S, the U.K., and India to address the issue and create community-wide resilience practices. It also describes the current trends in decisions from international, regional, and domestic law, and offers evidence-based policy recommendations to establish a culture of respect for human dignity.An interdisciplinary, intercultural exploration, and analysis of the phenomenon of bullying, this book will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers of psychology, sociology, anthropology, social justice and law, human rights, and cultural studies. It will also be useful for academic libraries, academicians, policy planners, school administration, government officials, and readers interested in reading about bullying.

This volume examines urban South Asia through the ideas of neighbourhood and neighbourliness. With a focus on the affective socio-spatial and sensorial experiences of non-metropolitan, small and intermediate cities, the chapters in the volume look at neighbourhoods as a key to exploring the textures of urban life. Bringing together scholars from a variety of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, urban studies, planning, and social history, the book highlights urban heterogeneity and contemporary transformations in South Asia. It discusses the linkages between urban lived spaces and social life; memory, migration, and exile; and the city and its society through practices of everyday life in neighbourhoods. With studies from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and India, the volume addresses a wide range of issues pertaining to urban experiences in their regional specificities and in a broader context of the Global South.This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of urban sociology, anthropology, urban studies, planning and development, social history, political studies, cultural studies, geography, and South Asian studies. It will also interest practitioners and policymakers, architects, planners, civil society organisations, and thinktanks.

This book brings together critical essays on time, history and narrativity and the explorations of these concepts in philosophy, music, art and literature.The volume provides a comprehensive introduction to narrative theories as well as philosophical discourses on time, memory and the self. Drawing insights from western and eastern philosophy, it discusses themes such as subjectivity and identity in historical narratives, theorization of time in cinema and other arts and the relationship between the understandings of existence, consciousness and concepts such as Kala, Aion, and yugas. The book also looks at the narrativization of history across cultures by exploring modern fiction from China and India, murals of martyrs in Northern Ireland, music and films set against the canvas of the Second World War and the Holocaust, as well as diasporic cultural histories.This book will be an interesting read for scholars and researchers of comparative literature, history, philosophy of history, cultural studies and post-colonial studies.

This book critically examines the cultural politics of visuals in South Asia. It makes a key contribution to the study of visuals in the social sciences in South Asia by studying the interplay of the seen and unseen, and the visual and nonvisual. The volume explores interrelated themes including the vernacular visual and visuality, ways of seeing in South Asia and the methodology of hermeneutic sensorium, anxiety and politics of the visuals across the region and the trajectory of visual anthropology, significance of visual symbols and representations in contemporary performances and folk art, visual landscapes of loss and recovery and representation of refugees, visual public in South Asia and making of visuals for contemporary consumptions. The chapters unravel the concepts of visual, visibility, visuality while attending to determinant meta-ideas, such as memory and modernity, trajectories of tradition, fluidity and hybridity, and visual performative politics. Based on interdisciplinary resources, the chapters in this volume present a wide array of empirical findings across India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, along with analytical readings of the visual culture of the subcontinent across borders.The book will be useful to scholars and researchers of visual and cultural studies, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, political studies, media and communications studies, performance studies, art history, television and film studies, photography studies, and South Asian studies. It will also interest practitioners including artists, visual artists, photographers, filmmakers and media critics.

This book presents a conceptual and methodological framework to understand South Asia by engaging with the practices of sociology and social anthropology in India and Nepal. It provides a new imagination of South Asia by connecting historical, political, religious and cultural divides of the region. Drawing from the experiences of Indian and Nepali social anthropology, the book discusses the presence of Nepal studies in Indian social anthropology and vice versa. It highlights Nepal or South Asia as a subject for social anthropological research and stresses on pluriversal knowledge production through regional scholarship, dialogic social anthropology, South Asian episteme, post-Western social anthropology and the decolonisation of disciplines. In exploring the themes and problems of doing social anthropology in Nepal by Indian scholars, the book assesses the scope of developing the South Asian social anthropological worldview. It explains why social anthropological and sociological inquiry in India has failed to surpass its focus beyond the territorial limits of the nation state. The book examines the issues of methodological nationalism and social anthropological research tradition in South Asia. By using the Saidian framework of travelling theory and Bhambra's idea of connected sociologies, it shows how social anthropology can develop disciplinary crossroads within South Asia.This book will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers of South Asian studies, anthropology, sociology, social anthropology, South Asian sociology, cultural anthropology, social psychology, area studies, cultural studies, Nepal studies and Global South studies.

This volume explores the constitutive role played by space in the performance of Kutiyattam. The only surviving form of Sanskrit theatre, Kutiyattam is distinctive in terms of its performance conventions and its unique culture of extensive elaboration and interpretation. Drawing upon the concepts of phenomenology on the processes of perception, particularly on the works of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, it analyses the role of space in the communicative structures of performance of Kutiyattam and its contribution to the production of meaning in theatre, especially in the context of contemporary theatre.The book explores the theatrical event as a phenomenon that comes into existence through a triangular relationship among the ‘ways of being'of the performers, the ‘ways of seeing'of the audience, and the space which brings them together. Based on this formulation, Kutiyattam is approached as a ‘theatre of elaboration,'made possible by the ‘intimate,'‘proximal'ways of seeing of the audience, in the particular theatrical space of the kūttampalaṃs, the temple theatres, where Kutiyattam has customarily been performed for more than five centuries.This volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of cultural studies, theatre and performance studies, cultural anthropology, phenomenology and South Asian studies.

This book examines the constructions and representations of male and female Sikhs in Indian and diasporic literature and culture through the consideration of the role of violence as constitutive of Sikh identity. How do Sikh men and women construct empowering identities within the Indian nation-state and in the diaspora? The book explores Indian literature and culture to understand the role of violence and the feminization of baptized and turbaned Sikh men, as well as identity formation of Sikh women who are either virtually erased from narratives, bodily eliminated through honor killings, or constructed and represented as invisible. It looks at the role of violence during critical junctures in Sikh history, including the Mughal rule, the British colonial period, the Partition of India, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India, and the terror of 9/11 in the United States. The author analyzes how violence reconstitutes gender roles and sexuality within various cultural and national spaces in India and the diaspora. She also highlights questions related to women's agency and their negotiation of traumatic memories for empowering identities.The book will interest scholars, researchers, and students of postcolonial English literature, contemporary Indian literature, Sikh studies, diaspora studies, global studies, gender and sexuality studies, religious studies, history, sociology, media and films studies, cultural studies, popular culture, and South Asian studies.

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens'anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies.This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

This volume explores a wide spectrum of Parsee culture and society derived through essays from the Journal of Anthropological Society of Bombay (1886–1936). This journal documents intensive scholarship on the Parsee community by eminent anthropologists, Indologists, orientalogists, historians, linguists, and administrators in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Comprising 0.05% of India's total population today, the Parsees (now spelled “Parsis”) have made significant contributions to modern India. Through contributions of Jivanji Jamshedji Modi, Bomanjee Byramjee Patell, and Rustamji Munshi, eminent Parsee scholars, the essays in this book discuss the social and cultural frameworks which constitute various key phases in the Parsee life nearly 100 years ago. They also focus on themes such as birth, childhood and initiation, marriage, and death. The volume also features works on Parsee folklore and oral literature.An important contribution to Parsi culture and living, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of sociology, social anthropology, ethnography, cultural studies, history, and South Asia studies.

Indian Anthropology: Anthropological Discourse in Bombay 1886–1936 is an important contribution to the history of Indian anthropology, focusing on its formative period. It looks at the political economy of knowledge production and the anthropological discourse in Bombay during the late nineteenth century. This seminal volume highlights the much forgotten and ignored contribution of the Bombay Presidency anthropologists, many of whom were Indians, from different backgrounds, such as lawyers, civil servants, and men of religion, much before professional anthropology was taught in India. The other contributions are by pioneers from Bengal, Punjab, and United Provinces — all British administrators turned scholars.This volume is divided into three parts: Part I deals with the six contributions on the history of the development of anthropology in India; Part II deals with four contributions on the methodology and collecting ethnographic data; and Part III deals with four contributions on theoretical analysis of ethnographic facts. The roots of many contemporary conflicts and social issues can be traced to this formative period of anthropology in India.This book will be useful to students and researchers of anthropology, sociology, public administration, modern history, and demography. It will also be of interest to civil servants, students of history, Indian culture and society, religions, colonial history, law, and South Asia studies.

This book discusses the epistemic foundation of the heuristic construct ‘vagabond'and the convergence between the politics of itinerancy and that of dissent in the context of South Asia. It describes the fraught relationship between ‘native'itinerant practices and techniques of governmentality which have furnished different categorizations and taxonomies of mobility. The book demonstrates the historical seismic breaks – from the Orientalist to the post-Orientalist, from the premodern to the modern, and from the colonial to the post-colonial – in the representation of the vagabond in the juridico-political imagination, in historiography and cultural articulation. For instance, the drunk European sailor, the quasi-religious mendicant, and the helpless famine refugee have all been referred to as ‘vagabonds'in the colonial archive. This book examines the histories and conditions behind these conceptual overlaps, as well as the uncanny associations among categories that uneasily coexist and mirror each other as subsets of a vast range of phenomena, which may loosely be called ‘vagabond(age)'.This volume will be of interest to students and researchers of literature, cultural studies, colonial and post-colonial studies, history, migration studies, sociology, and South Asia studies.