Decades of conflict and war have forced millions of men, women and children to flee from their homes and seek refuge in other parts of the country or in foreign lands - Afghanistan is one such country
The linguistic origin of the term Dalit is Marathi, and pre-dates the militant-intellectual Dalit Panthers movement of the 1970s. It was not in popular use till the last quarter of the 20th century, t
The past few years ever since the advent of HIV and AIDS, has shown an increasing use of the concept of sexual health around the world. This upsurge is especially noticeable not only in the field of h
Indigenous sustainability and environmental management cannot be understood apart from a community, its traditions, and ways of practices. Interest in Indigenous environmental sustainability has grown
Following successive international legal verdicts, Bangladesh is now an accredited maritime state. Possessing a spacious territorial sea and an extended continental shelf, with a maritime zone almost
The Northeast Indian borderlands, a cultural crossroads between South, Southeast and East Asia, constitute an important post-colonial exception to the narratives of nation, troubling the common percep
Historically, Indian cinema has positioned women at the intersection of tradition and a more evolving culture, portraying contradictory attitudes which affect women’s roles in public and private spher
In comparison to other social groups, India’s rural poor – and particularly Adivasis and Dalits - have seen little benefit from the country’s economic growth over the last three decades. Though econom
The Muslim shrine is at the crossroad of many processes involving society and culture. It is the place where a saint – often a Sufi - is buried, and it works as a main social factor, with the power of
With the elevation of Islam and Muslim transnational networks in international affairs, from the rise of Al Qaeda to the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East, the study of Diasporas and tra
Social struggles in India target both the state and private corporations. Three subaltern struggles against development in Gujarat, India, succeeded, to varying degrees, due to legalism from below and
India’s partition in 1947 and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 saw the displacement and resettling of millions of Muslims and Hindus, resulting in profound transformations across the region. A third
Since 2007, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has emerged as a dominant force in Pakistani politics through its hyper-active use of judicial review, or the power to overrule Parliament’s laws and the Prim
India and Turkey, Asia Minor and the Subcontinent of Hindustan and the Ottomans and Mughals have had shared histories of contact, engagement, and dialogue over the centuries. Using the inter-cultural
Religious nationalists and women’s activists have transformed India over the past century. They debated the idea of India under colonial rule, shaped the constitutional structure of Indian democracy,
Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world and second in South Asia, is known for its natural disasters, floods and political violence. However, the country plans to become a
Why people kill themselves remains an enduring and unanswered question. With a focus on Sri Lanka, a country that for several decades has reported ‘epidemic’ levels of suicidal behaviour, this book de
India’s cities are in the midst of an unprecedented urban expansion. While India is acknowledged as a rising power, poised to emerge into the front rank of global economies, the pace and scale of its
Recognising the different ways that capitalism is theorised, this book explores various aspects of contemporary capitalism in India. Using field research at a local level to engage with larger issues,
This book, the first academic book on Pakistani documentary cinema, traces the development of activist filmmaking practices in Pakistan which have emerged as a response to the consequences of religiou
This book maps a hundred years of documentary film practices in India. It demonstrates that in order to study the development of a film practice, it is necessary to go beyond the classic analysis of f
At the point of independence in 1948, Sri Lanka was projected to be a success story in the developing world. However, in July 1983 a violent ethnic conflict which pitted the Sinhalese against the Tami
This book introduces the term "otherism" and looks at the discourse of otherism and the issue of otherness in South Asian religion, literature and film. It examines cultural questions related to
Despite the fact that more than 80% of cultures practice varying degrees of arranged marriage, scholars have thus far concentrated exclusively on American and European cultures from choice marriages,
This book argues that post-2001 Afghanistan is best understood in terms of political networks. It discusses how informal political networks, engaging in patronage, corruption and illegality, effective
Interpretations of manhood have unfolded in India within a middle class cultural milieu shaped by an assertive self-confidence fuelled by "liberalisation", a process by which India has been
Migration – both within and between countries – is increasingly one of the world's most important policy issues. The faster the Indian economy grows, the larger will be the geographical redistribution
Pakistan, sixth most populous country in the world, has not gone through systematic and effective land or agrarian reforms in sixty-three years of its existence. Almost 67 per cent of its 167 million
Governance and ethics are intertwined. A government functions within certain broad moral and ethical parameters, integrally linked with the sociological foundation of the polity in which it is articul
