Shows / New Books in South Asian Studies
New Books in South Asian Studies
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/…
Episodes
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Andrea Acri and Paolo E. Rosati, "Tantra, Magic, and Vernacular Religions in Monsoon Asia: Texts, Practices, and Practitioners from the Margins" (Routledge, 2022)
Tantra, Magic, and Vernacular Religions in Monsoon Asia: Texts, Practices, and Practitioners from the Margins (Routledge, 2022) explores the cross- and…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Julia Kowalski, "Counseling Women: Kinship Against Violence in India" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022)
Women’s rights activists around the world have commonly understood gendered violence as the product of so-called traditional family structures, from which…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Ezra Rashkow, "The Nature of Endangerment in India: Tigers, 'Tribes', Extermination and Conservation, 1818-2020" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Perhaps no category of people on earth has been perceived as more endangered, nor subjected to more preservation efforts, than indigenous peoples. And in…
New Books in South Asian StudiesIlluminations Episode 3: Divine Technology
It’s common to feel that technology removes the magic of the world, but Hindu worshippers in Bangalore have shown that it's all in the approach. Guest Tulasi…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Rahul Sagar, "The Progressive Maharaja: Sir Madhava Rao's Hints on the Art and Science of Government" (Oxford UP, 2021)
Hints on the Art and Science of Government was the first treatise on statecraft produced in modern India. It consists of lectures that Raja Sir T. Madhava Rao…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Audrey Truschke, "The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule" (Columbia UP, 2021)
In her layered and theoretically astute new book The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule (Columbia UP, 2021), Audrey Truschke…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Greg Bailey, "The Vinayaka Mahatmya" (Dev Publishers, 2023)
The Vinayaka Mahatmya is a late Puranic text which contains myths of eight of Gaṇeśa’s avatāras. It presents Gaṇeśa as the supreme deity who empowers Brahmā…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Rotem Geva, "Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India's Capital" (Stanford UP, 2022)
Delhi, one of the world's largest cities, has faced momentous challenges—mass migration, competing governing authorities, controversies over citizenship, and…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Birth Rates and the Future of Social Movements: A Discussion with Jack Goldstone
"The world's future will depend on Africa having a good future." This week on International Horizons, Jack Goldstone, Virginia E. and John T. Hazel, Jr. Chair…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Rohit De, "A People's Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic" (Princeton UP, 2018)
Rohit De examines four important cases that set legal precedents: a Parsi journalist’s contestation of new alcohol prohibition laws, Marwari petty traders’…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Nikhil Menon, "Planning Democracy: Modern India's Quest for Development" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
The Indian planning project was one of the postcolonial world's most ambitious experiments. Planning Democracy: Modern India's Quest for Development (Cambridge…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Isabel Huacuja Alonso, "Radio for the Millions: Hindi-Urdu Broadcasting Across Borders" (Columbia UP, 2022)
From news about World War II to the broadcasting of music from popular movies, radio played a crucial role in an increasingly divided South Asia for more than…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Veena R. Howard et al., "The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Philosophy and Gender" (Bloomsbury, 2019)
'How do gender constructions transform religious experiences?' 'What is the role of bodily materiality in ethics and epistemology?' 'How does rethinking gender…
New Books in South Asian StudiesAffective Masculinities
Amrita De talks about affective masculinities, aspirational linkages with dominant scripts of masculinities, socially organized. As she expands her work beyond…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Elizabeth Lhost, "Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia" (UNC Press, 2022)
Beginning in the late eighteenth century, British rule transformed the relationship between law, society, and the state in South Asia. But professionals…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Elora Halim Chowdhury, "Ethical Encounters: Transnational Feminism, Human Rights, and War Cinema in Bangladesh" (Temple UP, 2022)
An exploration of the intersection of feminism, human rights, and memory, Ethical Encounters: Transnational Feminism, Human Rights, and War Cinema in…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Shannon Philip, "Becoming Young Men in a New India: Masculinities, Gender Relations and Violence in the Postcolony" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
Shannon Philip's book Becoming Young Men in a New India: Masculinities, Gender Relations and Violence in the Postcolony (Cambridge UP, 2022) tells the gendered…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
The UW-Madison Center for South Asia
Anthony Cerulli and Sarah Beckham share the history, mandate and vision for the UW-Madison Center for South Asia, especially its vibrant annual conference…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Michael Schiltz, "Accounting for the Fall of Silver: Hedging Currency Risk in Long-Distance Trade with Asia, 1870-1913" (Oxford UP, 2020)
The second half of the nineteenth century is correctly known to have culminated in the emergence of the gold standard as the first truly international monetary…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Monima Chadha, "Selfless Minds: A Contemporary Perspective on Vasubandhu's Metaphysics" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Buddhists are famous for their thesis that selves do not exist. But if they are right, what would that thesis mean for our apparent sense of self and for…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Justin W. Henry, "Ravana's Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Ravana, the demon-king antagonist from the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic poem, has become an unlikely cultural hero among Sinhala Buddhists over the past…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
M. Christhu Doss, "India after the 1857 Revolt: Decolonising the Mind" (Routledge, 2022)
In India after the 1857 Revolt: Decolonising the Mind (Routledge, 2022), M. Christhu Doss brings together some of the most cutting-edge thoughts by challenging…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Shailaja Paik, "The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India" (Stanford UP, 2022)
Shailaja Paik's book The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India (Stanford UP, 2022) is an important reflection on the question of…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Andrea Acri and Peter Sharrock, "The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia" (Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2022)
Andrea Acri and Peter Sharrock's The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia (2 volumes; Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2022) examines…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Ijlal Naqvi, "Access to Power: Electricity and the Infrastructural State in Pakistan" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Pakistan would desperately like to produce enough electricity, but it usually doesn't. Despite prioritization by successive governments, targeted reforms…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Nilakantan RS, "South vs. North: India's Great Divide" (Juggernaut, 2023)
Compare two children – one born in north India, the other in the south. The child from south India is far less likely to die in the first year of her life or…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Buddhist Responses to COVID: A Discussion with Venerable Soorākkulame Pemaratana
Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Venerable Soorākkulame Pemaratana, chief abbot at the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center and a scholar of modern Buddhism in Sri…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner, "Claiming the State: Active Citizenship and Social Welfare in Rural India" (Cambridge UP, 2018)
Citizens around the world look to the state for social welfare provision, but often struggle to access essential services in health, education, and social…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Sue Ann Barratt and Aleah N. Ranjitsingh, "Dougla in the Twenty-First Century: Adding to the Mix" (UP of Mississippi, 2021)
Identity is often fraught for multiracial Douglas, people of both South Asian and African descent in the Caribbean. In this groundbreaking volume titled Dougla…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Ute Hüsken, "Laughter, Creativity, and Perseverance: Female Agency in Buddhism and Hinduism" (Oxford UP, 2022)
In most mainstream traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, women have for centuries largely been excluded from positions of religious and ritual leadership…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
M. R. Sharan, "Last Among Equals: Power, Caste and Politics in Bihar's Villages" (Westland, 2021)
M. R. Sharan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, studying questions centred around development economics and political economy. He…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Rukmini S. "Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India" (Context, 2021)
How do you see India? Fuelled by a surge of migration to cities, the country's growth appears to be defined by urbanisation and by its growing, prosperous…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Shailaja Paik, "The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India" (Stanford UP, 2022)
The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India (Stanford UP, 2022) offers the first social and intellectual history of Dalit…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Padma Kaimal, "Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space" (U Washington Press, 2020)
In Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space (U Washington Press, 2020), Padma Kaimal deciphers the intentions of the…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Shaping Civilisations: The Sea in Asian History
The ocean is more connective device than barrier, bringing together diverse topics, time-periods and geographies. It has linked and connected the various…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Uther Charlton-Stevens, "Anglo-India and the End of Empire" (Oxford UP, 2022)
It can be easy to think of colonies as having two populations: colonial subjects, and colonial overlords from Europe. It’s an easy narrative: one has power…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Catholic in Karachi: Living as a Christian in an Islamic Country
Ayyaz Gulzar, journalist and Catholic youth leader in Pakistan, describes the challenges and persecutions the Church faces in the Islamic Republic, which…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Namita Vijay Dharia, "The Industrial Ephemeral: Labor and Love in Indian Architecture and Construction" (U California Press, 2022)
What transformative effects does a multimillion-dollar industry have on those who work within it? The Industrial Ephemeral presents the untold stories of the…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Malini Ambach et al., "Temples, Texts, and Networks: South Indian Perspectives" (HASP, 2022)
For many centuries, Hindu temples and shrines have been of great importance to South Indian religious, social and political life. Aside from being places of…
New Books in South Asian StudiesThe Ideology of Innovation in India
Science and Technologies scholar Lilly Irani talks her book, Chasing Innovation: Making Entrepreneurial Citizens in Modern India, with Peoples & Things host…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Jayita Sarkar, "Ploughshares and Swords: India's Nuclear Program in the Global Cold War" (Cornell UP, 2022)
In 1974, India surprised the world with “Smiling Buddha”: a secret underground nuclear test at Pokhran, Rajasthan. India called it a “peaceful nuclear…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Simon Brodbeck, "Divine Descent and the Four World-Ages in the Mahābhārata" (Cardiff UP, 2022)
Divine Descent and the Four World-Ages in the Mahābhārata reflects on the theology of time in this early Hindu text and poses the key question: why does the…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Patrick Olivelle, "Reading Texts and Narrating History: Collected Essays III" (Primus Books, 2022)
"The close attention required for editing and translating gives Olivelle an unparalleled understanding of the texts and inspires numerous articles and essays…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Afsar Mohammad, "An Evening with a Sufi" (Red River, 2022)
Afsar Mohammad's An Evening with a Sufi (Red River, 2022) is a collection of Afsar's Telugu poems translated into to English by Asfar and Shamala Gallagher…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Robert M. Geraci, "Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S." (Oxford UP, 2021)
Twenty-first century life is increasingly governed by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as machine learning, big data analysis, facial…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Hindu Nationalism and the Politics of Lord Parshuram
In this episode, we focus the use of religious myths, icons and deities in Hindu nationalist politics in India. More specifically, we discuss the political…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Mani Rao, "Saundarya Lahari: Wave of Beauty" (HarperCollins, 2022)
Today I talked to Mani Rao about her translation Saundarya Lahari: Wave of Beauty" (HarperCollins, 2022) Saundarya Lahari is a popular Sanskrit hymn…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Tarun Khanna and Michael Szonyi, "Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present" (Oxford UP, 2022)
What does it mean to be a meritocracy? Ask an ordinary person, and they would likely say it means promoting the best and brightest in today’s society based on…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Sayan Dey, "Green Academia: Towards Eco-Friendly Education Systems" (Routledge, 2022)
Green Academia: Towards Eco-Friendly Education Systems (Routledge, 2022) can be read as a systemic long-term counter-intervention strategy against any form of…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Anatoly Liberman, "Take My Word for It: A Dictionary of English Idioms" (U Minnesota Press, 2023)
Three centuries of English idioms—their unusual origins and unexpected interpretations. To pay through the nose. Raining cats and dogs. By hook or by crook…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Jerry Pinto and Madhulika Liddle, "Indian Christmas: Essays, Memories, Hymns" (Speaking Tiger, 2022)
Few countries celebrate religious and cultural festivals with greater passion, imagination and joy than India. And among the many festivals of this gloriously…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Holly Walters, "Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas" (Amsterdam UP, 2020)
Today I talked to Holly Walters about her new book Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas (Amsterdam UP, 2020). For roughly two thousand years, the…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Rumya Sree Putcha, "The Dancer's Voice: Performance and Womanhood in Transnational India" (Duke UP, 2022)
In The Dancer's Voice: Performance and Womanhood in Transnational India (Duke UP, 2022) Rumya Sree Putcha theorizes how the Indian classical dancer performs…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
The Future of Global Trade: A Discussion with Shannon K. O'Neil
Critics of globalisation come in many forms from environmentalists to trade unionists and many others in between. In the midst of all the controversy less…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
John Stratton Hawley, "A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement" (Harvard UP, 2015)
India celebrates itself as a nation of unity in diversity, but where does that sense of unity come from? One important source is a widely-accepted narrative…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
The World Sanskrit Conference: A Discussion with McComas Taylor
McComas Taylor discusses the upcoming 18th World Sanskrit Conference January 9-13, 2023. The conference is held online. All are welcome to register here. Raj…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
“This Claim has been Fact Checked”: A Glimpse into Fact Checking in India
Have you ever come across a post in social media which says, “The claim is disputed by third-party fact checkers”? Or have you ever come across the term fact…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Mrinal Pande, "Popular Hinduism, Stories and Mobile Performances: The Voice of Morari Bapu in Multiple Media" (Routledge, 2022)
This book addresses the recent transformations of popular Hinduism by focusing upon the religious cum artistic practice of Ramkatha, staged narratives of the…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Rohan Mukherjee, "Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
Why do rising powers sometimes challenge an international order that enables their growth, and at other times support an order that constrains them? Ascending…
- New Books in South Asian Studies
Prakash Kashwan, "Climate Justice in India" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
Prakash Kashwan's edited volume Climate Justice in India (Cambridge UP, 2022) brings together a collective of academics, activists, and artists to paint a…