The sheer strength of purpose that Irom Sarmila has displayed over the past ten or more years since she stopped eating is enough to earn her the admiration of many people. Zubaan Books brings out a collection of her poems, Fragrance of Peace, translated from Meiteilon to English.
This slender volume of 56 pages is published on the tenth anniversary of Sarmila's hunger fast for the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, a draconian law that allows the army unfettered powers in areas that are considered politically "sensitive" or "disturbed". All proceeds from the sale of this book will go towards supporting Sarmila's campaign.
Permanent Black has brought out an Indian reprint, with a new preface, of Rosalind O'Hanlon's Caste, Conflict, and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India, a classic work which was first published in 1985.
The nineteenth century saw the beginning of a violent and controversial movement of protest amongst western India’s low and untouchable castes, aimed at the effects of their lowly position within the Hindu caste hierarchy. The leaders of this movement were convinced that religious hierarchies had combined with the effects of British colonial rule to produce inequality and injustice in many fields, from religion to politics and education.
This study concentrates on the first leader of this movement, Mahatma Jotirao Phule. It shows him as its first ideologist, working out a unique brand of radical humanism. It analyses his contribution to one of the most important and neglected social developments in western India in this period—the formation of a new regional identity. This process of identity formation is studied against the background of the earlier history of caste relations, and contributes important evidence about the relationship between ritual status and political power. The author draws extensively on vernacular language materials and evidence about popular culture from oral traditions.
They have also reissued several of their bestsellers as paperbacks:
Anupama Rao's The Caste Question Rajit Mazumders's The Indian Army and the making of Punjab Anindita Ghosh's Behind the Veil: Resistance, Women, and the everyday in colonial South Asia A M Shah's The Grassroots of Democracy: Field Studies of Indian Elections.
Particularly welcome is their latest papeback, War and Peace in Modern India by Srinath Raghavan, co-published with Palgrave Macmillan. “Srinath Raghavan has set the standard for future work” says Kanti Bajpai, while Sunil Khilnani calls it “A remarkable analysis, based on meticulous scholarship ... an important contribution to current debates in India and elsewhere.”
As the leader of a new state created amidst the bloodiest partition in history, saddled with new and outstanding problems, Nehru was confronted with a range of disputes which threatened to boil over. War and Peace in Modern India challenges and revises our received understanding of his handling of international affairs. General readers as well as students of Indian history and politics will find its balanced consideration of Nehru’s foreign policy essential to gauge his achievements, his failures, and his enduring legacy.
The Scholars without Borders Annual Cull Fest 2010 will take place at Venkateshwara College on Saturday 27 November!
The Scholars Cull-Fest is a day to clear out your shelves... to make space for new books!
All of us buy books. Many books... But once they are read, most often they sit on bookshelves and are rarely re-read. We'd like to request you to share. If you know that there is a book on your shelves that you are simply not going to read again and don't otherwise value, give it to someone who would read and value it.
For the last few years, Scholars without Borders has organised an informal "Cull-Fest", where we give away the books that people donate to us.
This year's Fest is on the 27th November at Venkateshwara College, New Delhi. Scholars without Borders will give away about 300 books in all subjects. If you like please send us the books you would like to donate. And if you want to come see what others have given, come to Venky on Saturday the 27th at 1 pm.
The Cull Fest is being organized outside the auditorium where the DYNAMICS DAYS DELHI Meeting is taking place in the Physics Department.
You're welcome to pick up what you want (limit of 2 books per person for the free books and magazines) and there will also be some books on sale.
Get in touch with Himanshu: himanshu.nagpal@ live.com or http://twitter.com/himanshunagpal.
The sheer strength of purpose that Irom Sarmila has displayed over the past ten or more years since she stopped eating is enough to earn her the admiration of many people. Zubaan Books brings out a collection of her poems, Fragrance of Peace, translated from Meiteilon to English.
