Confronting our worst fears

The Face You were Afraid to See by Amit Bhaduri, one of India's foremost theoretical economists, is a collection of "compellingly argued essays that draws attention to the other that we turn away from. Fiercely critical of financial liberalization, corporate-led globalization and neoliberalism that celebrate unregulated free trade, the essays together make for a forceful critique of India’s economic policies.

Economists talk of prices rising or falling in response to excess of demand or supply in the market, but are at a loss to explain who sets the price in a market of many players where no one has the power to dictate price. They then have to invent the ‘invisible hand’ of a mythical god called ‘price mechanism’ to create the image of the market operating as a self-regulating system. While unregulated free trade amounts to groping in the dark, the situation is far worse when the prices and other rules of the market are set by the state on behalf of large corporations—as has happened in globalizing India in the name of economic development.

Large corporations, aided and abetted by the land acquisition policies of the central and state governments, are indulging in massive land-grabbing. We witness the perversity of development in the destruction of livelihoods and displacement of the poor in the name of industrialization, in the construction of big dams for power generation and irrigation, in the corporatization of agriculture despite farmers’ suicides, and in the modernization and beautification of our cities by the demolition of slums.

Bhaduri, contends that we have abjectly surrendered to the conventional wisdom of our time—that there is no alternative to corporations and the type of globalization that they lead. The result, he warns, will not be a freer market and more freedom, but a disastrous and deepening chasm between the India of privilege and the India of crushing poverty."

In our Essays and Economics sections, Rs 250, paperback, 208 pages. ISBN: 9780143068273

Thrice told

The French Institute of Pondicherry's publication, Deep Rivers: Selected Writings on Tamil Literature, by François Gros (translated from the French by M P Boseman) "brings together for the first time in English all the major essays written by François Gros on Tamil literature. An impressive range of topics is covered here from studies of Caṅkam literature and devotional texts of the Tamil Bhakti traditions to contemporary Tamil novels and short stories. Many of the essays include an overview of French Indological work over past three centuries made available to the English speaking scholarly world for the first time here.

While the author urges European and American scholars of Tamil history and culture to take the intellectual discourses of Tamil scholarship seriously, he insists at the same time that Tamil not be ghettoized but should rather be read alongside texts in other South Indian languages, with reference to the evidence of epigraphy, numismatics, archaeology and art history."

Reviewing it earlier this month in The Hindu, P. Marudanayagam is largely complimentary: "Most of the essays, originally written in French by François Gros on Tamil literature representing landmarks in the three eras — Sangam, Bhakti, and contemporary — have been brought together for the first time in English in this anthology. The work testifies to the author’s multicultural scholarship inasmuch as he projects Tamil in its varied facets — literature, archaeology, epigraphy, history, anthropology and linguistics.... What is of greater importance is that he has been able to make a worthy contribution to Tamil studies which, I am sure, will not go unrecognised by Tamils and Tamilologists the world over. ... The book is a supreme model of criticism as creative writing."

In our History and Translation sections, 519 pages, in paperback. Rs 800, ISBN: 9788184701722

Radical self-examination

Ayesha Jalal, the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, has written extensively on matters that increasingly concern the subcontinent, especially these days.

Partisans of Allah, her new book published by Harvard and Permanent Black, New Delhi, "surveys this rich and tumultuous history of South Asian Muslims and its critical contribution to the intellectual development of the key concept of jihad. Analyzing the complex interplay of ethics and politics in Muslim history, the author effectively demonstrates the preeminent role of jihad in the Muslim faith today.

The idea of jihad is central to Islamic faith and ethics, and yet its meanings have been highly contested over time. They have ranged from the philosophical struggle to live an ethical life to the political injunction to wage war against enemies of Islam. Today, more than ever, jihad signifies the political opposition between Islam and the West. As the line drawn between Muslims and non-Muslims becomes more rigid, Ayesha Jalal seeks to retrieve the ethical meanings of this core Islamic principle in South Asian history.

Drawing on historical, legal, and literary sources, Jalal traces the intellectual itinerary of jihad through several centuries and across the territory connecting the Middle East with South Asia. She reveals how key innovations in modern Islamic thought resulted from historical imperatives. The social and political scene in India before, during, and after British colonial rule forms the main backdrop. We experience the jihad as armed warfare waged by Sayyid Ahmad of Rai Bareilly between 1826 and 1831, the calls to jihad in the great rebellion of 1857, the fusion of jihad with a strand of anti-colonial nationalism in the early twentieth century, and the contemporary politics of self-styled jihadis in Pakistan, waging war to liberate co-religionists in Afghanistan and Kashmir."

Commenting on the book, Homi Bhabha, Professor of Humanities at Harvard has this to say: Jalal restores the much used concept of jihad to its enabling history of radical self-examination in the pursuit of justice and freedom, treading a fine balance between religious faith and secular belief. This is a courageous and brilliant book for a hopeful future beyond the quagmire of those who believe in the clash of civilisations.

We can only hope that those who need to read it, on all sides of the religious and political divides will find it possible to do so.

In our History section, Rs 300, 400 pages, in paperback. ISBN: 9788178242743

Educational Activists

The best kind of activism gives tangibles- and Jodo Gyan is a great example. Their work is quiet, efficient, and very imaginative.

To quote from their own description of themselves, they are an organization of professionals and social activists who have come together to find workable solutions to the problems in classroom practices. They try to take a fresh look at the problems and draw upon cutting edge research to solve them. They are a not for profit social enterprise motivated by the need to find sustainable and broadly applicable solutions to make education meaningful for every child in our country.

One of their beliefs is that concrete materials are a cornerstone of primary mathematics teaching. Indeed, all primary teaching, and to that end, Jodo Gyan has been involved with developing activities and curriculum to make mathematics (and science) understandable. This is their MATHLAB, and come 8 December, they will conduct a detailed exhibition of these and other mathlab material in December. This would be accompanied by workshops on the activities to be done in the classroom.

The location is the Jodo Gyan Resource Centre in Jia Sarai. Somewhat ironic, since Jia Sarai, the village that is surrounded by the IIT Delhi, is home to any number of the coaching centres that aspirants to the IITs throng to. Gyan of any kind, except what is needed to pass the JEE, is furthest from most of their minds....

More details about Jodo Gyan can be found on their website: www.jodogyan.org. BEYOND MATHLAB runs from 8 to 18 December, from 9 AM to 7 PM. All days.

Now that's what serious activism is all about.

More in Translation

The Sahitya Akademi 's 2008 translation prizes in Hindi, Kashmiri, Sanskrit, and English went to

• Mamooli Cheezon Ka Devata, Nilabh's Hindi translation of Arundhati Roy's The God Of Small Things,
• Hindustani Afsaani, a translation of collection of short stories in various languages , into Kashmiri,
  
• Sringarapadyavali, a translation of poetry by Tamil Sangam poets into Sanskrit, and
  
• Topi Shulka, a translation of Rahi Masoom Raza's Hindustani novel by the same name, into English.

Rahi Masoom Raza, film-maker, fashion designer, poet, artist, music-lover, revivalist, social-worker... novelist.

"Set in Aligarh in the early 1960s, after the dust of Partition has ostensibly settled, Topi Shukla is an intriguing story of two friends-one Hindu and the other Muslim. Through the characters of people like Topi and Iffan, the novel looks at the lives of ordinary prople trying to survive in a socieyt that insists on a brutal conformity of beahviour. It is about individuals whose spirits are paralysed because they cannot conform, and about history's inability to teach mankind any worthwhile lessons.

Language plays an important part in this narrative, operating almost as a character in its own right. Topi, as a Hindi bull in the Urdu china shop, invokes the historical stand-off between the two languages.

The novel also explores the culture and psyche of Uttar Pradesh withits very Muslim Aligarh, its very Hindu Benares, and their exotic confluence in Lucknow. Although it is set in the India of the 1960s, the communal tensions and issues portrayed in the novel make it just a s relevant to the troubled times we face today. This fascinating novel wil be of tremendous interest to the general reader, as well as to students of literature in translation, partition fiction, and social history. The novel's engagement with intertextuality and metafiction will add to its interest for readers keen on literary theory."

The translation is by Meenakshi Shivram, a freelance translator and journalist with both the Web and the print media, and the foreword is by Harish Trivedi, Professor of English at Delhi University.

In our Indian Literature in Translation section, 145 pages, hardcover, Rs 225. ISBN: 9780195670899

The Anurādhapura Viharas

The viharas of Anuradhapura, the pagodas in Myanmar, the wats of Bangkok. The great stupa in Sanchi. There is something very serene and sublime in Buddhist architecture...

A new title from Orient Blackswan by Senake Bandaranayake, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, is the striking Sinhalese Monastic Architecture: The Vihāras of Anurādhapura.

"Anurādhapura was the major centre of Sinhalese Buddhism and the principal city of Sri Lanka from the 3rd century BC to 10th century AD. The focus of this study is the remains of the Buddhist monasteries in and around the city, devising a framework to study Sinhalese monastic architecture and attempting to interpret the Sinhalese tradition. Major forms and concepts are placed in their historical and architectural contexts.

This is the most comprehensive and systematic treatment of the monasteries of Anurādhapura. It brings together and re-examines material uncovered by over one hundred years of archaeological exploration and research in Sri Lanka.

The Introduction reviews the historical and archaeological significance of Anurādhapura, the concept of a Sinhalese tradition and considers constructional methods. Section One of the book deals with the monastic plan and examines the four major types of monastery or sub-monastery. Section Two explores the form and development of the main building types in the monasteries. Section Three discusses architectural form in general. The essentially mixed brick-and-timber architecture of Anurādhapura is a classic expression of the Sinhalese tradition with its roots in the organic building conventions of the country. It represents a particular and distinctive characterisation of the architecture of Monsoon Asia to be viewed within the broad perspective of the unity and differentiation of cultures in the region."

A scholarly work of rare distinction, that is now in our Art and Architecture section. In paperback, 440 pages, Rs 1095. ISBN: 9788125036753

Future imperfect

This is the "other" economics at JNU.

Manmohan Agarwal, who was Professor in the Centre for International Trade and Development, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and presently is Senior Visiting Fellow at The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada, has a long and distinguished record of expertise in international trade, development and economics as it relates to Asia, and especially to India.

In India's Economic Future, new from Social Sciences Press, he brings together a large number of economists who work on India (and who, coincidentally, also have strong connections with JNU) to comment on Education, Technology, Energy and Environment.

"The Indian economy continues to grow rapidly, taking in its stride poor harvests and rising oil prices. Industrial output, which had tended to be relatively low, has increased to double-digit levels, accompanied by rising levels of savings and investment. India’s healthy export performance has resulted in increased amounts of foreign exchange reserves, insuring against a large balance of payments (BOP) deficit in the future. An important factor in this process has been India’s relative political stability. Democracy is well entrenched and changes of government occur reasonably peacefully.

Is there a fly in the ointment? Could the growth process slacken or can it be accelerated further? What are the constraints to maintaining a high rate of growth over the next decade or two? These questions acquire special significance as we try to understand long-term growth in the current context of global economic slowdown. The papers in this volume seek to answer these questions."

In our Economics section, in hardcover, 294 pages, Rs 595. ISBN: 9788187358176

The road taken...

Pankaj Butalia started as a national level table tennis player, then evolved into a teacher of Economics at Delhi University, and then... filmmaker. That was eight documentaries and one fiction film ago...

His most recent is MANIPUR SONG. "Set in Manipur the [hour long] film seeks to foreground a state that exists on the periphery of the Indian imagination. As with other North Eastern states, culturally and ethnically Manipur has remained estranged from the dominant Indian culture and has repeatedly sought to assert its identity through insurgency. In 1980-81 the Indian state countered by giving unprecedented powers to its army to deal with insurgency. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), gives complete immunity to the army and led to killings and rapes. The situation got so bad that in August 2004 a group of women disrobed in front of the army barracks holding banners saying "Indian Army Rape Us". The film looks at the consequences of this violence on ordinary people."

His one feature film, KAARVAN, looks at the impact of Partition on a few lives. ALthough not a commercial success- depending on how you look at it, the film did earn Naseeruddin Shah a special mention for acting at the Amiens festival in 1999.

Most of his documentaries have been screened extensively throughout the world - Venice, Toronto, Rotterdam, Belgium, Hong Kong, Turkey, New Delhi and Calcutta among other places.

TRACING THE ARC is about a truly "phenomenal achievement of applied science in British India between 1802 and 1843. It was an attempt to measure the curvature of the earth's surface under the guise of cartographic and military necessity. The film attempts to recreate the stupendous effort and look at some of it's implications."

His films are listed in our Documentaries section, in the Under Construction subcategory.

History in Sepia

It is nothing short of a privilege to view any portion of the the legendary Alkazi collection of photography... about 100 000 photographs of India from the beginnings of photography on the subcontinent.

The Alkazi Foundation, housed in New Delhi, (but with centres in London and New York) has been very generous in sharing some of their holdings with the public- their marvellous Lucknow: Splendour and Decline exhibition in early 2007 allowed us to see some superb images of the city dating from the 1870's.

Publications of the Foundation include Lucknow: City of Illusion, Vijayanagara, The Marshall Albums, The Waterhouse Albums, and most recently, Painted Photographs: Coloured Portraiture in India. Many of these titles are copublished with Mapin, Ahmedabad, and feature in our Arts section.

Vijayanagara: Splendour in Ruins, is based in part on the photographs taken by " the remarkably accomplished Alexander Greenlaw [...]. Vijayanagara in South India in 1855, is known principally through his monumental paper negatives of this great imperial Hindu city. Greenlaw, an army officer, explored the vast site, capturing the temples, shrines, palaces and pleasure pavilions with his camera, as well as recording the dramatic landscape that surrounds the ruins of this once majestic capital.

While Greenlaw’s response to the architecture within its spectacular natural setting is the principal focus of this book, the work of subsequent photographers at the site is also explored. Presenting the work of William Pigou, Edmond David Lyon, Nicholas & Co. and others, the role of photography in documenting and preserving the site is examined through a comparative approach that seeks to present a comprehensive overview of commercial, archaeological and other documentary activities at Vijayanagara in the 19th century. The book [...] the extraordinary achievement of this small group of talented individuals through a stimulating combination of text and images, which together offer a fresh vision of this inspiring city."

The Marshal Albums: Photography and Archaeology has been edited by Sudeshna Guha, with contributions from Michael Dodson, Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Robert Harding and Christopher Pinney.

"Drawing on the photographic albums in the personal collection of Sir John Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1908, this volume is a study exploring multiple perceptions of Indian history and related scholarship produced through archaeological field work during the colonial period. While maintaining focus on Marshall’s contributions to South Asian archaeology, the themes of the essays include the rise of archaeology as an authoritative element for historical scholarship during the 18th and 19th centuries, the preservation of monuments and historical landscapes, and the complex relationships between photography and archaeology.

The book highlights major sites such as Sanchi, Sarnath, Mohenjodaro and Taxila—often referred to as Marshall’s archaeological triumphs."

In our Art and Archaeology sections. The Marshall Albums, in hardcover, 288pages, 119 sepia photographs, 10 drawings and a map, Rs 3500. ISBN: 9788189995324.

Vijayanagara, 247 pages, in hardcover, Rs 2850. ISBN: 9780944142769

Globalising the Local

Ajit K. Mohanty, Minati Panda, Robert Phillipson, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas have edited the book Multilingual Education for Social Justice, published recently by Orient Blackswan.

"The principles for enabling children to become fully proficient multilinguals through schooling are well known. Even so, most indigenous/tribal, minority and marginalised children are not provided with appropriate mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MLE) that would enable them to succeed in school and society.

Experts from all continents ask why, and show how it CAN be done. The book discusses general principles and challenges in depth and presents case studies from Canada and the USA, northern Europe, Peru, Africa, India, Nepal and elsewhere in Asia. Analysis by leading scholars in the field shows the importance of building on local experience. Sharing local solutions globally can lead to better theory, and to action for more social justice and equality through education."

The Editors have impressive credentials. Ajit Mohanty is at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, who has published in the areas of psycholinguistics, multilingualism and multilingual education focusing on education, poverty and disadvantage among linguistic minorities. Minati Panda is a cultural psychologist with special interests in culture, cognition and mathematics. She is an Associate Professor of the Social Psychology of Education at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Robert Phillipson is a Professor Emeritus at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas is actively involved with minorities’ struggle for language rights since five decades.

In our Education section, in paperback, 408 pages. Rs 675, ISBN: 9788125036982

Before there was Bollywood

Uma Anand, who passed away last week, played an important role in the landscape of hindi movies in Mumbai in the '40s. At the very first Cannes Film Festival, just after World War II ended, the movie Neecha Nagar which was directed by Chetan Anand (her husband then) and which starred he and Kamini Kaushal and Zohra Sehgal among others shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (Best Film) award!

Arguably one of the first movies in the parallel cinema, Neecha Nagar was inspired by a Gorky short story, and had Ravi Shankar as music director- and many of the IPTA stalwarts in support... Uma Anand did not do many more movies (although she co-wrote Taxi Driver, among others) , but moved to print (as journalist and editor) and moved on.

A couple of years ago she and her son, Ketan Anand brought out a book + DVD on Chetan Anand: The Poetics of Film that analyses the work in films and the craft of the veteran filmmaker who died in 1997. The 160-page book is a nostalgic biography of the filmmaker, vividly brought to life with telling photographs. The book is in two parts: the first by Uma Anand, relating his background and the events that shaped his life and work, and the second by Ketan Anand who worked with his father and his two uncles Dev Anand and Vijay Anand before branching out on his own.

Published by Himalaya Films, Mumbai Chetan Anand is listed in our Film Studies section. Rs 895, with DVD.

A Quantum of Excitement

Manjit Kumar has degrees in physics and philosophy. And an exceptional ability to write. He converts the major revolution in physics in the last century into a gripping and exciting book, Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality.

Published in India by Hachette, in this "tour de force of science history, Manjit Kumar shows how the golden age of physics ignited the greatest intellectual debate of the twentieth century.

Quantum theory is weird. In 1905 Albert Einstein suggested that light was a particle, not a wave, defying a century of experiments. Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and Erwin Schrödinger’s famous dead-and-alive cat are similarly strange. As Niels Bohr said, if you weren’t shocked by quantum theory, you didn’t really understand it."

At a time when the word is much abused (it means nothing when used with Healing, for instance!) Manjit Kumar's Quantum "sets the science in the context of the great upheavals of the modern age"

A review in the Hindustan Times on 26 September says: Kumar brings lucidity and a sense of drama to what is usually considered by lay readers as an esoteric, bubble-chambered subject. He does this without sacrificing the ‘science of it’ at the altar of readability. The triumphs and the tribulations, the politics and the physics, the humanity and the genius of the protagonists all collide to produce the sort of energy that we usually expect in a Le Carre thriller.

Totally! In our General Books section, Rs 495, in paperback, 464 pages. ISBN: 9789380143101

J'accuse

"The unanswered questions, the justice delayed, the unbearable memories—the three days of 1984 when over 3000 Sikhs were slaughtered, have indelibly marked the lives of thousands more who continue to exist in a twilight of bitterness and despair.

It was outrage at this state of affairs that led Jarnail Singh, an unassuming, law- abiding journalist, to throw his shoe at home minister P Chidambaram during a press conference in New Delhi. He readily acknowledges that this was not an appropriate means of protest, but asks why, twenty-five years after the massacres, so little has been done to address the issues that are still unresolved and unanswered and a source of anguish to the whole community.

Who initiated the pogrom and why?

Why did the state apparatus allow it to happen?

Why, despite the many commissions and committees set up to investigate the events, have the perpetrators not been brought to book?

I Accuse is a powerful and passionate indictment of the state’s response to the killings of 1984. It explores the chain of events, the survivors’ stories and the continuing shadow it casts over their lives. Because, finally, 1984 was not an attack on the Sikh community alone; it was an attack on the idea at the very core of democracy—that every citizen, irrespective of faith and community, has a right to life, liberty and security."

New from Penguin, in our Contemporary India section, in hardcover, 208 pages. Rs 350. ISBN: 9780670083947

Act now!

Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group, the NGO with a base in Pune as well as in Delhi, have a wonderfully simple credo:

Kalpavriksh believes that a country can develop meaningfully only when ecological sustainability and social equity are guaranteed, and a sense of respect for, and oneness with nature, and fellow humans is achieved.

We feel quite the same way, especially with our Access Equity initiative... Kalpavriksh bring out a number of publications of relevance to this cause, and an example of their work in this area is their Biodiversity "Infopack" of three titles:

• A guide to the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, compiled by Shantha Bhushan. "This Guide to the Act is an attempt to explain its provisions to people in a simple manner moving away from legalese. The focus is largely on the rights and responsibilities of communities in biodiversity conservation. The Guide also explains the provisions regarding access, control and benefit-sharing. It also briefly touches upon the overlaps that the said law has with other related legislation on seeds, plants and people’s knowledge."

• Understanding the Biological Diversity Act 2002 - a dossier compiled by Kanchi Kohli. "This dossier aims to put together scattered information available on the Act, related rules and agreements, so that the information is easily accessible. This is critical, not just to understand the text of the legislation but also the perspectives that go with it.

  This compilation includes a background to the passage of the legislation and a brief introduction to its key components, along with the rules and agreements. It attempts to bring together the range of perspectives on the legislation and includes well-researched critiques as well as voices from the communities. The Dossier includes sections on the chronology of events that led to the notification of the legislation and its present implementation. It also presents a description of the institutional structure that has been prescribed by the legislation for its implementation."

• A simple guide to Intellectual Property rights, Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge by Tejaswini Apte. "This handbook is a step towards filling the gap of user-friendly information and encouraging mainstream debate on IPRs, biodiversity and traditional knowledge. It is hoped that readers will use this handbook in a variety of ways: to design their advocacy campaigns, to take the debate into the mainstream media, or to engage with their government whether as public servants, as informed members of the public, or as organized campaigners."

This set of three books is priced at Rs 400 or US$40, plus postage. Write in to us! In association with GRAIN, as well as on their own, Kalpavriksh have brought out many books and CDs (some of which we have talked about earlier). We can help you get any of these- write to us: mail@scholarswithoutborders.

The Complexity and Poetry of Terror

Quite by chance both books we are posting on today have terror in their titles... But are, of course, very different.

Rukmini Bhaya Nair, poet and academic, teaches at the IIT Delhi. Her Poetry in the time of Terror from OUP is a collection of essays that " broadly focus on the question of poetry. Wide ranging in their references, and written in a lyrical and inviting style, the writings engage with a host of political questions relating to nation, language, translation, borders, gender, sexuality, and more.

How can an individual poet define her own voice in the face of the overwhelming presence of earlier, often dead, poets' voices? What connect our 'new' postcolonial, transnational anxieties to the rampant celebrations of cruelty and torture that have always been the subject of poetry from humankind's earliest epics? Is poetry the antithesis of terror or is it terror's very essence?

While grappling with these questions, the underlying premise is that poems, even the most apparently everyday ones, are texts of crisis; they are our first language when confronted with the incomprehensible, with sublime joy, or with terror out of the sky.

Poems, Nair argues, even the most everyday ones, are our first language when confronted with the incomprehensible, with sublime joy, or with terror out of the sky. They are veritable texts of crisis.

A number of challenging questions arise from this foundational premise. What connects our ‘new’ postcolonial, transnational anxieties to the rampant celebrations of cruelty and torture that have been the subject of poetry from humankind’s earliest epics? How can an individual poet define her voice in the face of the overwhelming presence of earlier, often dead, poets’ voices? Is poetry the antithesis of terror or is it terror’s very essence?

Written in a lyrical and inviting style and supported by writings ranging from Freud, Hegel, and Barthes to Bhartåhari, Kabir, and Tagore, this book will appeal to lovers of poetry, as well as to scholars and researchers in the fields of literature, philosophy, linguistics, history, and gender and cultural studies."

In our Poetry and Literary Criticism sections, in hardcover, 224 pages, ISBN:9780198060765

Rada Iveković, philosopher, taught in the former Yugoslavia. Since 1991 she has lived in France and has worked on Indian and political philosophy, feminist theory, gender, nation, translation and on epistemological issues of interconnected and interactive philosophies.

Samir Kumar Das is Professor of Political Science at Calcutta University and President of the Calcutta Research Group. He specializes on issues of rights, justice and democracy.

Together, their different "take" on terror will be published by Women Unlimited next month. TERROR, TERRORISM: A Historical and Philosophical Perspective

The world today is marked by different kinds of terror—individual, state, anarchist, revolutionary, religious, imperial or communal; or the terror of insecurity or catastrophe—each with its particular imprint. Their different ideological and philosophical justifications need to be understood, especially now, when distinctions between them have been obliterated by the blanket term, ‘terrorism,’ and the habit of calling those who practise this generalised ideology, ‘terrorists’.

This volume contains essays by international scholars, across different disciplines, and engages with several aspects of terror: as historical event; as a generalised discourse of ideology; as a feature in the continuum of violence; as ‘extreme violence’; and as the final marker of identity—ascribed, undertaken or imposed. The authors also discuss the historical and discursive relations between democracy and terror, liberalism and the rule of law, the ‘war on terror’ and the need for legitimacy; and a philosophical engagement with terror. Its scope ranges from the era of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution to the instruments of colonial terror, to post-colonialism and the global situation today, post-September 11, 2001. A compelling and sober consideration of one of modernity’s most intractable and complex issues.

Contributors to the volume include Virgílio Afonso da Silva, Paula Banerjee, Didier Bigo, Pradip Kumar Bose, Alain Brossat, Béchir Chourou, Samir Kumar Das, Ivaylo Ditchev, Daho Djerbal, Rada Iveković, Artemy Magun, Boyan Manchev, Francisco Naishtat, Shahnaz Rouse, Rubina Saigol, Ranabir Samaddar and Stephen Wright.

Will be in our Politics and Philosophy sections. Rs. 595, 328 pages, ISBN: 9788188965564

Memories of loss

Rita Kothari teaches Communication and Culture at the Mudra Institute Of Communications, Ahmedabad. Her recent book from Penguin, Unbordered Memories brings to light a hitherto unexamined consequence of partition along the long border that separates Pakistan from India.

"If Partition changed the lives of Sindhi Hindus who suffered the loss of home, language and culture, and felt unwanted in their new homeland, it also changed things for Sindhi Muslims. The Muslims had to grapple with a nation that had suddenly become unrecognizable and where they found themselves to be second-class citizens. Not used to the Urdu, the mosques and the new avatars of domination, they were bewildered by the new Islamic state of Pakistan. Sindh as a nation had simultaneously become elusive for both communities.

In Unbordered Memories we witness Sindhis from India and Pakistan making imaginative entries into each other’s worlds. Many stories in this volume testify to the Sindhi Muslims’ empathy for the world inhabited by the Hindus, and the Indian Sindhis’ solidarity with the turbulence experienced by Pakistani Sindhis. These writings from both sides of the border fiercely critique the abuse of human dignity in the name of religion and national borders. They mock the absurdity of containing subcontinental identities within the confines of nations and of equating nations with religions. And they continually generate a shared, unbordered space for all Sindhis— Hindus and Muslims."

Earlier books by Kothari include The burden of refuge: The Sindhi Hindus of Gujarat that was published a few years ago by Orient Longman, an edited collection of stories, Speech and silence: literary journeys by Gujarati women (Zubaan Publishing, 2006), and Translating India: the cultural politics of English translation (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Unbordered Memories is in our Culture section. Paperback, 200 pages, Rs 250. ISBN: 9780143063650

The men who knew infinity

The Kerala School of Mathematics that flourished on the Malabar coast of India between the 14th and 16th centuries was founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama and included among its members Jyeshtadeva whose Ganita Yukti Bhasha has been featured on this blog recently.

Sage, India has a new book on the Kerala School, Passage to Infinity: Medieval Indian Mathematics from Kerala and its Impact, by George Joseph of the Universities of Manchester and Toronto.

"This book traces the first faltering steps taken in the mathematical theorisation of infinity which marks the emergence of modern mathematics. It analyses the part played by Indian mathematicians through the Kerala conduit, which is an important but neglected part of the history of mathematics.

Passage to Infinity begins with an examination of the social origins of the Kerala School and proceeds to discuss its mathematical genesis as well as its achievements. It presents the techniques employed by the School to derive the series expansions for sine, cosine, arctan, and so on. By using modern notation but remaining close to the methods in the original sources, it enables the reader with some knowledge of trigonometry and elementary algebra to follow the derivations. While delving into the nature of the socio-economic processes that led to the development of scientific knowledge in pre-modern India, the book also probes the validity or otherwise of the conjecture of the transmission of Kerala mathematics to Europe through the Jesuit channel.

The book straddles two domains: science and social sciences. It will appeal to those interested in mathematics, statistics, medieval history, history of science and technology, links between mathematics and culture and the nature of movements of ideas across cultures."

In our Mathematics and History sections, in hardcover, 236 pages, Rs 495. ISBN 9788132101680

Those were the days

"Andre Béteille, one of India's leading sociologists and writers, is particularly well known for his studies of the caste system in South India. What is perhaps not much known is that he started writing about his early life some years ago and indeed, four of these pieces - about his two grandmothers, childhood in Chandernagore, and then schooling in Calcutta (now Kolkata) - have been published. Few academics of his stature have written about their early lives-and yet there are many stories and anecdotes waiting to be told."

Remembered Childhood is a collection "of writings on childhood and school days - subjects close to André Béteille - is a special offering by a few of his friends, colleagues, and admirers to mark his seventy-fifth birthday. The volume, focusing on 'remembered childhood', includes twelve essays by leading sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and literary figures: Alan Macfarlane, Aparna Basu, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Gurcharan Das, Jan Breman, Malavika Karlekar, Pradip Kumar Bose, Susan Visvanathan, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Tapan Ray Chaudhuri, T.N. Madan, and Veena Das. Rich in detail and feeling, these real-life stories, told in different styles and registers, can be read at many levels: at one level, they are entertaining, pleasing, and even amusing; at another, they provide insights into varied childhoods from men and women today aged between the mid-fifties and early eighties. Each essay is also accompanied by 3-4 photographs enhancing the visual appeal of the book. The volume also includes an introduction by [the editors] Malavika Karlekar and Rudrangshu Mukherjee."

This book, just released last week, is in our Biography and Sociology sections. In hardcover, 236 pages, Rs. 650. ISBN: 9780198064350

All the world

Theatre practice in India is like the country itself—vast, diverse, pulsating. Theatre in India happens anywhere and everywhere—in badly designed auditoria, in schools and colleges, in parks and gardens, in restaurants, on rooftops, in the open fields, on the streetcorner, and even, sometimes, on moving trains. At times, it gives pure delight and touches aesthetic peaks, at others, it is brazen, rude, outspoken, blunt—or both simultaneously.

And yet, surprisingly, the actual practice of theatre in India—beyond the work of this or that practitioner remains vastly undertheorized.

In OUR STAGE: Pleasures and perils of theatre practice in India, leading theatre practitioners, administrators and scholars, social scientists and activists interrogate theatre practice in India around the themes Locales, Experiments, Assertions, Pathologies, New Realities, and Training Institutions. They also interrogate the implicit and explicit premises and projections of the 1956 Drama Seminar. Together, they give a fascinating insight on how theatre happens in India, as well on the most important issues animating this practice.

Edited by Sudhanva Deshpande (of Leftword and Jana Natya Manch, Delhi), Akshara K (of Akshara Prakashana, a prominent Kannada publishing house) and Sameera Iyengar (a Ph.D focusing on theatre in India from the University of Chicago, and Director Projects, Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai), the book has contributions from Aijaz Ahmad, Akshara K. V., Amitesh Grover, Anmol Vellani, Aparna Dharwadker, Chandradasan, Channakeshava, Dakxin Bajrange, Devi, Ekbal Ahmed, G. P. Deshpande, Gopal Guru, Koushik Sen, Makarand Sathe, Moloyashree Hashmi, Prabir Purkayastha, Pralayan, Ram Bapat, S. Raghunandana, S. Ramanujan, Sadanand Menon, Sanjoy Ganguly, Shanta Gokhale, Shiv Visvanathan, Shyamala Vanarase, Siddharth Narrain, Sudhanva Deshpande, Sundar Sarukkai, Sushma Deshpande, Vikram Iyengar, Vivek Shanbhag.


In our Performing Arts and Drama section, Rs 350, 236 pages, in paperback. ISBN: 9788189487614

Thoughtful schools of thought

A R Venkatachalapathy's review, in today's The Hindu, of The Oxford India Srinivas begins: M. N. Srinivas (1916–1999) was undoubtedly India’s most distinguished and accomplished sociologist. His long and active intellectual life that started during the period immediately preceding Indian Independence extended up to the end of the millennium.

"Sanskritization, dominant caste, and vote bank describe important aspects of Indian politics, society and, social life in the new millennium. Interestingly, all three terms owe their genesis to one of India’s most distinguished sociologists, M.N. Srinivas. Apart from his path-breaking work, Srinivas was instrumental in setting up two pioneering centres of sociology and social anthropology in India—at M.S. University, Baroda and at the University of Delhi.

The Oxford India Srinivas brings together some of Srinivas’s best writings on a wide range of subjects, including village studies, caste and social structure, gender, religion, and cultural and social change in India.

In an Introduction written especially for this volume, eminent historian Ramachandra Guha highlights Srinivas’s relevance in academic research and contemporary thought in India. The Foreword, written by renowned sociologist A.M. Shah, discusses Srinivas’s legacy in examining the dynamics of social reality in India.

Beginning with essays on the village of Rampura, the subject of his fieldwork during the 1940s, the volume then discusses caste and social structure, including its form and place in modern India. It reflects on gender and its significance in Indian society before moving on to discuss social change, nation building, and changing institutions and values in contemporary India. Srinivas also examines the state of sociology and social anthropology in the Indian academia, including methods of study and research in these disciplines. Autobiographical essays complete the picture, leaving the reader with a sense of having known the eminent sociologist and his times."

In our Sociology and Collected Works sections, in hardcover, Rs 995. ISBN: 9780198060345

Another intellectual who thought deeply about caste issues was Rajni Kothari, "one of India's most remarkable intellectuals [who] radically changed the contours of the discipline of political science. Pushing political analysis beyond the traditional format, he has given his readers some path-breaking and seminal work-–work that has allowed Indian political science come of age. He pioneered a movement to move the discipline away from mere intellectual formulations to a live, active intervention in the politics of democracy and an understanding of its role in Indian society."

Orient Blackswan's The Writings of Rajni Kothari brings together three landmark books-–Politics in India, Caste in Indian Politics and Rethinking Democracy. Drawing upon contributions from various disciplines, Politics in India is the first comprehensive treatment of the Indian political system examined from different vantage points.

Caste in Indian Politics rejects the dichotomy between traditional society and modern polity and examines the interaction between the two. It shows how the India intelligentsia regrets the way caste has entered politics while completely ignoring how politics has turned caste into a unit of political mobilisation.

In Rethinking Democracy, Kothari reflects, interrogates and even contests some of his earlier formulations on democracy, state and civil society. He makes a powerful critique of democratic theory and practice and presents an alternative model for a decentralised and participatory democracy.

The foreword by Ashis Nandy is a fitting tribute by a distinguished political psychologist and sociologist of science. In his words, “...Rajni Kothari dared to be what he was-—an Indian political scientist...in love with the idea and practice of democracy, who did not think democracy was an imported luxury but an indigenous cultural strand in continuity with an iniquitous, segmented but nonetheless highly plural society comfortable with radical diversity.”

In our Politics and Collected Works sections, Rs 995. In hardcover, 1048 pages, ISBN: 9788125037552

Speak, memory

Margaret Chatterjee's memoirs Sketches from Memory, written at the suggestion of a friend, chronicle "a tale in space and time, a journey from one culture to a completely different one. After the introductory sections dealing with the author's early life, the influences that were at work, and the interests developed, the focus shifts to people met in the course of unusually wide travels. They were so memorable that they are given centre stage.

The author arrived in India in 1946 and the book is incompletely autobiographical for it does not include a large part of her life -- her marriage to Nripendranath Chatterjee, originally a Professor of English, her experiences in a university in UP in which there were caste hostels, and her subsequent involvement in district and village life in Bengal after her husband became one of the first emergency recruits to the newly formed IAS. They were crowded years in which she raised a family and acquired a working knowledge of two languages. So the journey to Gandhi was prepared by what the author had already learnt about India through the years which she has not recorded lest the book become too long. She eventually met a number of senior people who in various ways had a link to Gandhi, or at least, to the Gandhian era. She was well on her way in her journey to Gandhi about whom she has written several books.

The second series of sketches begins with contemporary times, looking back at Gandhi and finding that, so far from being locked into a specific historical situation, he had much to say, and even more, to show, in his dealings with people and particular events, which address our own complex circumstances. In this way, the two series complement each other, the first, mapping the journey to Gandhi, and the second, providing an activity of recall which, paradoxically, brings Gandhi into today's world. The two sets of sketches are companion volumes to the author's six books about Gandhi's life and thought which show how a writer, whose basic discipline was philosophy, moved to historical studies, and found in Gandhi a key not only to India but to events elsewhere in the world. The general reader will also find in the sketches a gallery of personalities she met in different countries who are memorable in themselves and to whom she introduces us."

In our Biography and Gandhi Studies sections. In hardcover, Rs 300 each. ISBN: 9788185002958 and 9788185002965, respectively.

A river flows...

Just as I finished writing the previous post (see below), drawing attention to Clare Arni's photo essay on the Kaveri river, I saw this title from Pratham Books...

"Cauvery is a 44-page visual treat. The glory of the river Cauvery is highlighted with stunning photographs by Clare Arni. Oriole Henry’s text captures all the myths and stories of a river that feeds thousands of fields in southern India. Interspersed with little nuggets of information, activity ideas, and delightful illustrations by Trapeze Design Studio the book will be loved by children of all ages."

Oriole Henry, an MA in travel writing is currently exploring India, the country where she was born; Clare Arni is a travel and architectural photographer who has documented AIDS in south India for an exhibition, and has several photography shows to her credit.

Arni and Henry followed the Cauvery for four months from its source in the mountains of Coorg down to where it meets the sea at Poompuhar. “In an old Maruti car we explored every road and path we found, no matter how seemingly impassable. We flew over the Cauvery, took boats down it and waded across its rushing waters to try and capture the history and mythology along its banks, the changing landscape across two states and the life this magnificent river sustains.”

Cauvery is available in English, Hindi, Kannada and Marathi, in our For Children Section. Rs 60 plus postage.

Festival of Water

"That one who knows the flowers of water, he becomes the possessor of flowers, cattle and progeny. Moon is the flower of the water....

This Vedic verse, an extract from Mantra Pushpam, part of the Yajurveda states that water forms the basis of all life in the universe and is worthy of our prayers. This mantra stresses the point that he who understands that water is the most fundamental of all elements and treats it as sacred becomes the possessor of prosperity. In the face of the treat of environmental degradation, this is a truth that we need to acknowledge and honour. Water: Culture, Politics and Management proposes to do precisely this- emphasize the importance of sustaining and fostering the ecological balance of nature.

This book is a compilation of essays written by some well known connoisseurs of Indian art and culture as well as experts and activists dedicated to the cause of conservation of water. They illustrate how water has been treated in mythology, reveal the ecological messages that underlie these myths, and describe the culture that developed around water. There are also essays on maritime trade, the craft of boat- and ship-building, the politics of water emerging out of issues like dam construction, pollution of rivers and the scope of social services in flood-ravaged areas. Finally a commentary on the imagery of water in Indian cinema, a selection of poems and a collection of photographs illustrating the sanctity built around water depict our response to it through art and poetry.

Drawing on different disciplines as well as the arts, this volume is an informative and engaging exploration of the many ways that water has sustained and enriched our existence."

The conference of which this book is in part the proceedings, was held in 2004. Six years is long by any reasonable time-scale (other than the geologic) so the book does seem dated. Nevertheless the issue of water remains an important one, and this book, as a compilation of some contemporary academic thought on the matter, is valuable. In addition, it has a foreword by Kapila Vatsyayan, and includes a wonderful photo essay by Clare Arni on The Kaveri River.

Published by India International Center in collaboration with Pearson, the hardcover volume is listed in our Water section. xlviii+156 pages, Rs 650. ISBN: 9788131726716

Collective Imagi-nation

Professor Sir Christopher Bayly is the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at Cambridge University. One of the finest living historians of British India, his work has done much shape the imagination of the colonial north Indian landscape.

Oxford University Press have brought out a collection of his landmark writings, The C A Bayly Omnibus, that put together three of his seminal works: The Local Roots of Indian Politics, Origins of Nationality in South Asia, and Rulers, Townsmen, Bazaars.

"Exploring the maze of political and economic networks of politicians and influential local groups in the significant constituency of Allahabad, The Local Roots of Indian Politics describes the linkages between local and national politics during 1880–1920. This is complemented by an analysis of rural Allahabad district in his 1986 essay ('Rural conflict and the roots of Indian nationalism’) which had been left out from The Local Roots .

Bayly’s exposition of social organization, ideology, and politics of ‘Indian middle classes’ in north India during the crucial late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Rulers, Townsmen, Bazaars remains a significant moment in Indian historiography. This volume has inspired many studies of the period.

The third volume in the omnibus, Origins of Nationality in South Asia analyses the moral and cultural antecedents of the regional patriotisms which became a key feature of Indian nationalism. It discusses the origins of Swadeshi; pre- history of ‘Communalism’; nature of the British Military–Fiscal State and indigenous resistance; and, the role of the British factor in modern south Asian history. The omnibus also includes a reflective autobiographical note on author’s intellectual origins and career as a historian of India.

In the introduction to the omnibus, Bayly clarifies his stand on a range of subjects concerning colonial India and posits his writings in contemporary historiography."

In our History and Collected Works sections, Rs 1450, 1274 pages in hardcover. ISBN: 9780198062561

To the periphery

Ashok Parthasarathi's Technology at the Core is a book "on science and technology policy–making in India during the Indira Gandhi years.

It also chronicles facets of Indira Gandhi’s decision-making in building a massive and diversified superstructure of scientific and technological capability and capacity. The author highlights key decisions, decisions, incidents and players outside the prime minister’s secretariat (including the author’s interactions with her) during her second primeministership. It mentions how science and technology policies were made during the second wave of scientific development in India, starting in the late 1960s, which was a result of a fortuitous confluence of personalities, political alignments, and economic and social conditions at a crucial juncture in modern Indian emphasis on indigenous development of science and technology. It was also a time for a systematic and comprehensive look into the ways of making science and technology policies that were cohesive and integrated well with decision-making at all levels of governance –centre, state and local.

The mix of personalities, anecdotes, processes, institutions and challenges makes for an interesting intriguing and informative book."

Parthasarathi, part technocrat, part academic, part policy maker, is uniquely positioned to describe these important years in our country's development as the benefits of science slowly diffused into society at large...

In our General Books section, from Pearson. Rs 750, in hardcover, 348 pages. ISBN: 9788131701706

Tribal Fantasy

Tara Books, Chennai have for some time now been at the forefront of an experiment, hand producing books of superb quality with slender stories illustrated by rich graphics, in a tribal motif. The Night Life of Trees, The London Jungle Book, Beasts of India... and now, the latest book by the acclaimed Gond tribal artist, Bhajju Shyam, The Flight of the Mermaid.

This 32 page treat has a story by Gita Wolf and Sirish Rao who have adapted the Hans Cristian Andersen story of the mermaid to a tribal world, where "the human is never isolated from the rest of nature. The worlds of water, land and air are intertwined, as the mermaid struggles to find a place for herself as a human being.

The Flight of the Mermaid is a feminist parable on the warring claims of love and choice.

Unclassifiable, it is in our General Books section. Rs 560, hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN: 9788190675604

The D Company

This D Company is the Dowry Project, an international network of scholars in India, America and Europe which aims to bridge the gap between research and practice as regards the phenomenon of dowry. The dowry menace may be less in the public news these days than it used to be, but that may just be owing to the fact that there are many other menaces that occupy the public space.

The Dowry Project has resulted in a book edited by Tamsin Bradley, Emma Tomlin & Mangala Subramaniam, Dowry: Bridging the gap between theory and practice from Women Unlimited, Delhi, an associate of Kali for Women.

Writing about the book in todays's The Hindu, Padmini Swaminathan says "this thought-provoking and engaging volume revisits several contentious themes related to dowry. Noting that much of the material is familiar stuff, the editors, nevertheless contend that “this more familiar material is located within the context of new research that asks important questions which aim to contribute towar ds a greater understanding of the shifting dynamics of the dowry terrain...”

"Dowry is not confined to upper-caste Hindus of South Asia but has spread across castes and religions, and transnationally. This book explores dowry practices in South Asia from a number of theoretical pesrpectives and through a multidisciplinary lens. It analyses the intersection between gender seen in terms of power relatins and systems of exchange, and violence against women as a result of their marital status. It examines the dynamics and complexities of these changes and analyses why so many current initiatives against it fail to have significant impact.

Its three sections — Conceptualising Dowry, The Changing Patterns of Dowry, and Activism: Challenges to Dowry - looks at dowry through the themes of marriage;property and inheritance rights; collective action against it; legal changes and domestic violence; the womens’ movement; caste; Indian literature; Hindu scriptures; son-preference; and reproductive health."

Soon in our Gender Studies section, Rs 350. ISBN: 9788188965472