Bøger udgivet af Bloomsbury India

Winning elections is not everything, what is crucial for the good health of a robust democracy is forming a government.From strategically devised pre-poll alliances to hastily stitched together post-poll associations, noted journalist Sunita Aron has travelled the length and breadth of the country, painstakingly documenting the drama and dharma of coalition politics in India. The result of her exhaustive research and insightful analysis, Ballots and Breakups is a cracker of a read. As Indian voters deliver fractured verdicts, political parties resort to constructing fragile coalitions by hook or by crook. The hapless casualties of this relentless quest for power are the Indian voters and this book is for them, as the writer eloquently exhorts for the need of common guidelines on the formation of a government in the case of a hung house. A gripping take on coalition politics in India, Aron charts a riveting tale of modern Indian politics that has all the masala of a Bollywood potboiler, but the ending, the writer asserts, has to be happy like that of any Hindi film, 'stable governments and a prosperous society even in a hung house!'

In this lucid and enlightening account, Nityananda Misra takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through the modern Kumbha Mela, the largest pilgrimage and the biggest festival in the world attended by crores of people. The book details the origin and symbolism of the Kumbha Mela, its dates and venues, and its awe-inspiring organization that has been called a wonder of modern-day management. It provides a personal close-up view of the visitors at the largest human gathering on earth-the sadhus, the kalpavasis, the tirthayatris, and members of new-age Hindu movements. The author sheds considerable light on the cultural aspects (literature, arts, and music) of the Kumbha and argues how the mela is perhaps the most diverse and inclusive human gathering and how the tradition is immortal, as if made so by the nectar of immortality which is believed to have spilled on the sites of the Kumbha Mela. Throughout the book, the author shows how diverse participants come and work together at the Kumbha Mela following the spirit of samgacchadhvam ("come together")-a spirit that permeates the mela in his view.The author captures his personal experience too in Prayaga, Nashik, and Ujjain, leaving an anecdotal touch to the narrative. The final chapter presents an overview of the upcoming Ardha Kumbha Mela in Prayaga in 2019.

'The Bitcoin Saga: A Mixed Montage' is an exciting story about the birth and growth of bitcoin and the blockchain technology underpinning it. The book takes the untutored reader on a thrilling rollercoaster ride through the complexities and myriad facets of cryptocurrencies. The sub-prime crisis of 2008 and the Cypherpunk movement sets the stage for the advent of the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto and the release of the first cache of bitcoins. The narrative takes on a Houdini like magical quality as it unravels the skeins of the Dark Web and the secret of the Silk Road. The story of the Mt Gox heist and Nostradamus like prophecies of bitcoin doom add a generous dollop of intrigue to the crypto story. The cryptocurrency regulatory-tax tales of countries like USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, China, India etc give the narrative an intellectual slant. The bitcoin saga ends on an introspective note. The blockchain technology has enormous power to change the world. Whether it will be a benevolent Titan or a Frankenstein monster, only time can tell.

Populism and Its Limits is a response to the evaluative and celebratory approaches to populism in social sciences andhumanities. It seeks to study the phenomenon of populism, thoroughly consider its limits and, if possible, proposes waysout to other kinds of commitment in life, living and politics. It aims to formulate responses that take on the spurious and non-dialectical dissociation between thought and action, intellect and emotion, the people and the elite.

Locating World Cinema argues for the importance of understanding the local context of a film's creation and the nuances that it conveys to the spectator. It examines the sociocultural contexts intrinsic to cinema from milieus like the USSR/Russia, China, Japan, France, the US, Iran and India. The book analyses the works of some of the more celebrated but, at times, less than fully understood auteurs, such as Kenji Mizoguchi from Japan; Robert Bresson, Jacques Rivette and Éric Rohmer from France; Abbas Kiarostami from Iran; Martin Scorsese from the US; Zhang Yimou from China and Aleksei German from Russia.Further, it examines how the conditions of exhibition for art house cinema has transformed into the 'global art film' that attempts to bypass the local by addressing international audiences.The book deals with complex ideas but is lucidly written, making it accessible to film students and lay persons alike.

Oriental Wells explores the manifold ways in which the East was a major source of inspiration for the British Romantic poets, who generously borrowed from the Eastern sources in their effort to reinvent the British poetic tradition. It examines the "orientalization" of Romantic poetry, using works of William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, and Walter Savage Landor. Analyzing the Romantic poets' multifaceted engagement with the East, the book raises the questions:· What led Blake to formulate his thesis that "All Religions Are One"?· Why do Coleridge's poetry and the play Osorio echo some of the passages from Wilkins' translation of The Bhagvat-Geeta as well as other prominent Eastern religious texts?· What made Southey write his "Hindu epic" The Curse of Kehama and his "Islamic" tale Thalaba, the Destroyer?· What was the exact nature of the negotiations between William Jones' Orientalism and Wordsworth's poetics as formulated in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, The Prelude, and other poems? The book convincingly argues that the introduction of "cultural goods" from the East played a crucial role in shaping the form and substance of British Romanticism, while acknowledging that the Romantics' reception of the East was tempered by their ideological concerns and religious background.

The thinkers and philosophers of ancient India contemplated intensively and extensively about all aspects related to life, and art was one of the major domains they touched upon. A profound and intense analysis of the art experience in literature naturally led to the evolution of one of the most sophisticated and long-standing poetic systems in the world.An Introduction to Indian Aesthetics: History, Theory, and Theoreticians offers a comprehensive historical and conceptual overview of all the major schools in Sanskrit poetics-one of the most sophisticated and long-standing traditions of literary criticism in the ancient world. The book, despite its primary focus on the major exponents of each school, also aims to give the reader a good idea as to how these concepts were treated before and after their major practitioners. An important part of Sanskrit poetics that often intimidates a modern reader is its seemingly difficult terminology. This book particularly addresses this issue by using contemporary idioms for readers who have no background of Sanskrit. It also aims to draw points of comparison, wherever relevant, between certain concepts in Sanskrit poetics and their western counterparts.

Indian Travel Writing in the Age of Empire studies a variety of travel narratives by Indian kings, evangelists, statesmen, scholars, merchants, leisure travellers and reformers. It identifies the key modes through which the Indian traveller engaged with Europe and the world-from aesthetic evaluations to cosmopolitan nationalist perceptions, from exoticism to a keen sense of connected and global histories. These modes are constitutive of the identity of the traveller. The book demonstrates how the Indian traveller defied the prescriptive category of the 'imperial subject' and fashions himself through this multilayered engagement with England, Europe and the world in different identities.

This book argues that the changing character of Muslim community and their living space in Delhi is a product of historical processes. The discourse of homeland and the realities of Partition established the notion of 'Muslim-dominated areas' as 'exclusionary' and 'contested' zones. These localities turned out to be those pockets where the dominant ideas of nation had to be engineered, materialized and practiced. The book makes an attempt to revisit these complexities by investigating community-space relationship in colonial and postcolonial Delhi. It raises two fundamental questions: How did community and space relation come to be defined on religious lines? In what ways were 'Muslim-dominated' areas perceived as contested zones? Invoking the ideas of homeland as a useful vantage point to enter into the wider discourse around the conceptualization of space, the book suggests that the relation between Muslim communities and their living spaces has evolved out of a long process of politicization and communalization of space in Delhi.

Humanity's Strings: Being, Pessimism, and Fantasy interrogates the nature of reality against fantasy as the two are presented to and created by the human consciousness-a consciousness that is in constant struggle with the omnipresence of misery and the inevitability of death. The book shows that being, pessimism, and fantasy as the strings which are made up of forces unseen, unknown, and ungoverned that control the human being like a puppet. Through a study of the metaphysical and existential philosophies of thinkers, such as Franz Brentano, Edmund Husserl, Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jacques Derrida, the book interrogates not only how the self interacts with fantasy but why it does as well. It also asks why fantasy forces the self towards a unity that impacts existence in the modern world with its questions of justice, politics, and materiality. Furthermore, it situates the fantasy novels of authors, such as Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson, Douglas Adams, and Robert Jordan, as discourses which delineate the considerations above as ideas which modulate the existence of the human. Additionally, the book shows how it is not just the human that is affected by the machinations of the cosmos but also time and space-ostensibly a priori entities of existence-as these two interact with the human and its consciousness.

Decolonizing Theory: Thinking across Traditions aims at disentangling theory from its exclusively Western provenance, drawing insights and concepts from other thought traditions, connecting to what it argues is a new global moment in the reconstitution of theory. The key argument, which is the point of departure of the book, is that any serious theorizing in the non-West should be fundamentally suspicious of any theory that only gives you one result-that four-fifths of the world does not and cannot do anything right. Everything in the non-West, from itsmodernity and secularism to its democracy and even capitalism, is always seen to be deficient. In other words, all it tells us is that we do not live up to the standards set by Western modernity. From this point of departure, it seeks to create a conceptual space outside (Western) modernity and capitalism, by insisting on a rethink of non-synchronous synchronicities. The book takes three key themes around which the whole story of modernity can be unraveled, namely the question of the political, capital and historical time, and secularism for a detailed discussion. It does so by bracketing, in a sense, the autobiographical story that Western modernity gives itself. In each case, it tries to show that past forms never simply disappear, without residue, to be fully supplanted by the modern, and merely applying theory produced in one context to another is, therefore, very misleading.

The book will focus upon the growth of a Hindi Dalit literary culture at its formative stage in the 1920s and the 1930s, and the significant role played by Swami Acchutanand and Chandrikaprasad Jigyasu, in this process. The book introduces the Dalit public sphere in the United Provinces in the early decades of the twentieth century. It tracks the growth and the development of a Dalit print culture in the United Provinces during the 1920s and the 1930s. The book centres on the figures of Swami Acchutanand and Chandrikaprasad Jigyasu, anti-caste intellectuals, and the most eminent figures in the Hindi Dalit world of letters during that era.The purpose of the proposed book is to rescue Swami Acchutanand and Chandrikaprasad Jigyasu from undeserved obscurity and accords to them the importance that they merit in any chronicle of the Dalit cultural movement in North India.

Polycoloniality is a study of the activities of non-British European powers and players - primarily the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, the Danish, the 'Germans' (representatives of the Austrian and Prussian empires), the Swedish and the Greek - in Bengal from the late 13th to the early 19th century, and their role in shaping Bengal's brush with 'colonial modernity' prior to, and possibly more foundationally than, the English.Much of the traditional historiography of colonialism, in South Asia in general and Bengal in particular, and the resultant postcolonial commonsense, is woefully mononational, with the focus being almost exclusively on England and its colonial exploits. This is obviously factually incorrect and inadequate, with the multiple European nations named above having had simultaneous colonial contact with Bengal from the 16th century, and there having been a steady flow of Europeans, primarily Italians, to Bengal from at least the late 13th century. More importantly, it is these multiple European players, rather than the English, who can be credited with the setting up of the first cosmopolitan cities in Bengal, its first colleges and universities, the beginnings of print culture in Bengali, the foundations of the modern linguistic, literary and cultural registers of Bengal, the first instances of social and political reforms, etc.Apart from an elaboration of all the above, can Polycoloniality, or a re-look at Bengal's colonial history through the lens of plurality, also offer a template to understand the multinational forms of current new-imperialism more fittingly than postcolonial commonsense can?

This book intends to motivate non-regular readers to overcome previously held inhibitionsabout reading and not let past experiences keep them away from the gift of reading. There is a deliberate attempt at illustrating the book with plenty of illustrations to tempt word-phobic readers. It helps simplify the reading process and urges the reader through simple techniques to approach reading in a manner that enhances comprehension.This entails giving up some deeply entrenched old habits that are counterproductive and equipping ourselves with better skills. To achieve this, beyond just tips, the book also provides physical tools that help the reader overcome old habits like regression, lack of preview, subvocalizing, slow reading, and self-doubt.It also helps the reader to rise above the bare minimum reading limited to their subject and become flexible readers capable of changing gears when required.The benefits of being well read and being able to fight guilt are also highlighted with the intention that having completed this book urges the non- regular reader to continue in their quest of more fulfilling reading. This book intends to help people acquire an altered approach to reading so that parents and significant caretakers in the lives of young learners do not inadvertently demotivate budding readers. An investment of 100 minutes of your time could make a positive change in how you read and what you do hereafter.

Remember, Repeat, Inhabit looks at three questions in relation to the idea of the viewer: What happens when one reads someone else's reading of someone else?What happens when something repeats itself in Kieslowski's work?Is there a possibility of an ontology of space?The book attempts to understand the idea of 'viewing' from the inside, not simply as an ontological premise but definitely affected by it. Three differing contexts are looked at-a French madman's notion of the 'self', a Polish filmmaker's notion of the 'everyday' and an Indian performance artist's notion of 'memory'. Through these on-the-surface contrasting artists and texts, a particular idea of a 'viewer' emerges. This viewer is the key to an understanding of something almost elemental in the nature of the idea of 'viewing' in the contemporary context of twenty-first-century Delhi.

Democratic Accommodations: The Minority Question in India analyses the complex story of the accommodation of claims, interests and rights of minorities in India. It aims at what India-being one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse nations of the world-can offer to other nations, particularly to the countries of Europe that are confronted with ethnocultural and ethno-religious assertion. The authors have endorsed the argument that all plural democracies-and all democracies can only be plural in the present historical conjuncture despite the attempts by regimes to make them majoritarian-must work out their own strategies of accommodation by evolving a policy matrix that is suited to the dynamics of their own societies. The book is organised along four rubrics-laws, institutions, policies and political discourse-to understand Indian democracy's distinct response to diversity. The rich and nuanced exploration of the Indian approach to the minority question presented in this book will advance the international debate on diversity and multiculturalism and help policymakers in pluralistic democracies to develop their own particular strategies to deal with minority claims.

Few other Hindu gods guide a regional consciousness, pervade walks of everyday life and define a collective psyche the way Lord Jagannath does in Odisha and its contiguous areas. Jagannath is metonymic of Odisha and the Odia way of life, arguably much more than any other god for a particular geography or its peoples.While not derecognising the historical and the spiritual aspects of Jagannath, Bonding with the Lord attempts to look at the deployment of Jagannath in contemporary cultural practices involving the sensorium in the widest sense. The project of a cultural Jagannath not only materialises him in people's everyday practices but also democratises scholarship on him. The expansion of the scope of research on Jagannath to cultural expressions in a more encompassing way rather than confining to 'elitist' religious/literary sources makes him an everyday presence and significantly enhances his sphere of influence. Jagannath's 'tribal' origin, his association with Buddhism and Jainism and his avatari status make him an all-encompassing, multilayered symbol and a treasure trove for multiple interpretations.

India in Translation, Translation in India seeks to explore the contours of translation of and in India-how Indian texts travel around the world in translation, how Indian texts travel across languages in the subcontinent and how texts from various languages of the world travel to India. The book poses pertinent questions like:· What influences the choice of texts and the translations, both within and outside India? · Are there different ideas of India produced through these translations? · What changes have occurred over the last two hundred odd years, from the time of colonialism and anti-colonial struggle to that of globalisation? · How does one rate the success or otherwise of a translation?· What is the role of these translations in their host languages, in their cultural and literary polysystems?The book includes eighteen essays from eminent academics and researchers who examine the numerous facets of the rich and varied translation activity. It shows how borders-both national and subnational, and generic-are created, how they are reinforced and how they are crossed. While looking at the theory, methodology and language of translation, the essays also enunciate the role of translations in political, social and cultural movements.

Narrated by some of the most celebrated doctors from across the world, Dear People, with Love and Care, Your Doctors weaves together inspirational and personal stories of medical excellence and brilliance, interjected with feelings of triumph, loss, fear, strength, valour and empathy.

Citizens around the world use crowdsourced platforms to hold governments accountable, to fill gaps in infrastructural and municipal services, and to call attention to issues that impact everyday lives, such as sexual violence and environmental injustice.Crowdsourcing, Constructing and Collaborating brings together individuals and groups engaged in building and sustaining platforms for online collaboration and participation, to explore and reflect on the methods, challenges and potentials of the technology of crowdsourcing, and mapping of social impact. It brings together people directly involved in a range of projects from around the world-I Paid A Bribe, Environmental Justice Atlas, HarassMap, Intolerance Tracker, Visualizing Palestine, and Humanitarian Tracker-to critically reflect on the tactics, methods, challenges and opportunities of crowdsourcing and crowd-mapping as tools for social, environmental and political change.In an accessible and visually engaging style, it shows how participatory digital media become crucial components of journalistic, scholarly and activist practices, addressing a range of topical challenges, including economic corruption, sexual harassment, political violence and environmental conflict, in diverse geographic contexts.

This book explores the dilemma of Bond's 'two selves' and his existential search for an identity. This exploration, analysed across six chapters, is informed by a variety of postcolonial, historical, informational and critical texts on Bond and Anglo-Indians. Arup Pal focuses on four key literary works of Bond-The Room on the Roof, A Flight of Pigeons, Scenes from a Writer's Life and A Handful of Nuts-from the perspective of the author's developing sense of personal, national and cultural identity. He traces the journey that the author and his protagonists embark on in order to seek and ultimately define their sense of being.

Shakespeare and Indian Theatre: The Politics of Performance looks at the performance history of Shakespeare productions in India which date back to the mid-eighteenth century when the British officers in India staged Shakespeare's plays along with those of other English playwrights for entertainment. This became part of a larger imperialistic design that was evolving during the latter part of the nineteenth century to establish moral and cultural superiority over India through English education and literature. Shakespeare was used as a convenient ploy for achieving this aim. However, India's engagement with Shakespeare performance for over two hundred years has not been uniform throughout. From being 'imitative' during the first half of the nineteenth century to popular during the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to 'urban-folkish' in the post-Independence India, productions of Shakespeare's plays have undergone interesting transformations. The book looks at Shakespeare in Bengali and Parsi theatre at length. Other theatre traditions like Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi which are equally rich and have registered a considerable influence of Shakespeare have been included.

Art and History: Texts, Contexts and Visual Representations in Ancient and Early Medieval India seeks to locate the historical contexts of premodern Indian art traditions. The volume examines significant questions, such as: What were the purposes served by art? How were religious and political ideas and philosophies conveyed through visual representations? How central were prescription, technique and style to the production of art? Who were the makers and patrons of art? How and why do certain art forms, meanings and symbols retain a relevanceacross context? With contributions from historians and art historians seeking to unravel the interface between art and history, the volume dwells on the significance of visual representations in specific regional historical contexts, the range of symbolic signification attached to these and the mythologies and textual prescriptions that contribute to the codification and use of representational forms. Supplemented with over 60 images, this volume is a must-read for scholars andresearchers of history and art.

Against the Nation invites readers to explore South Asia as a place and as an idea with a sense of reflection and nuance rather than submitting to conventional understanding of the region merely in geopolitical terms. The authors take the readers across a vast terrain of prospects like visual culture, music, film, knowledge systems and classrooms, myth and history as well as forms of politics that offer possibilities for reading South Asia as a collective enterprise that has historical precedents as well as untapped ideological potential for the future.