Despite some enormous differences in pay among professional athletes, most aspects of their daily lives remain surprisingly constant across sports and income levels. Living out of Bounds provides answers to persistent questions about what it's really like to be an athlete and discusses the filtered image of the athlete that emerges through books and other media. Overman mines a wide array of sports biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, and diaries to construct a representative picture of the athlete's life from the rise of American sport in the late 19th century to the present day. In so doing, he reveals the person behind the sports celebrity, as he or she exists on a daily basis. Individual chapters cover such topics as college athletics, the pressure of celebrity, the difficulty of balancing sports and everyday life, sex and sexuality, race in sports, the obsession with the body, and the difficulties associated with retiring. In the course of the work, a portrait emerges that transcends the individual lives lived. The shared experiences of devoted training, of travel and hotels, and of tension within and beyond the clubhouse or gym, force us to appreciate the often oppressive reality of the sporting life, at the same time that the individual lives lived also provide us with a glimpse of the rewards that make sports so compelling to audiences and athletes across America.

Postcolonial discourse is fast becoming an area of rich academic debate. At the heart of coloniality and postcoloniality is the contested authority of empire and its impact upon previously colonized peoples and their indigenous cultures. This book examines various theories of colonization and decolonization, and how the ideas of a British empire create networks of discourses in contemporary postcolonial cultures. The various essays in this book address the question of empire by exploring such constructs as nation and modernity, third-world feminisms, identity politics, the status and roles of exiles, exilic subjectivities, border intellectuals, and the presence of a postcolonial body in today's classrooms. Topics discussed include African-American literature, the nature of postcolonial texts in first-world contexts, jazz, films, and TV as examples of postcolonial discourse, and the debates surrounding biculturalism and multiculturalism in New Zealand and Australia.

From nineteenth-century romantic friendships to childhood best friends and idealistic versions of feminist sisterhood, female friendship has been seen as an essential, sustaining influence on women's lives. Women are thought to have a special aptitude for making and keeping friends.

But notions of friendship are not constant-and neither are women's experiences of this fundamental form of connection. In Another Self, Linda W. Rosenzweig sheds light on the changing nature of white middle-class American women's relationships during the coming of age of modern America.

As the middle-class domesticity of the nineteenth century waned, a new emotional culture arose in the twentieth century and the intensely affectionate bonds between women of earlier decades were supplanted by new priorities: autonomy, careers, participation in an expanding consumer culture, and the expectation of fulfillment and companionship in marriage. An increased emphasis on heterosexual interactions and a growing stigmatization of close same-sex relationships fostered new friendship styles and patterns.

Drawing on a wide range of primary sources including diaries, journals, correspondence, and popular periodicals, Rosenzweig uncovers the complex and intricate links between social and cultural developments and women's personal experiences of friendship.

Based on a groundbreaking international conference held in Sydney, Australia, under the auspices of Artspace, this anthology explores the legacy and the future of multicultural discourses for the arts. Debates on art, culture, and theory are situated within the context of globalization. The issues arising from new hybrid and complex forms of cultural identity are examined with reference to both contemporary art practice and historical accounts of national identity. Contributors include Ricardo Dominguez, senior editor of "The Thing.Net, Coco Fusco, an interdisciplinary artist teaching at Columbia University; Sneja Gunew, professor of English and women's studies at the University of British Columbia; and Fazal Rizvi, a professor of education at the University of Illinois.

Climb a mountain and experience the landscape. Try to grasp its holistic nature. Do not climb alone, but with others and share your experience. Be sure the ways of seeing the landscape will be very different. We experience the landscape with all senses as a complex, dynamic and hierarchically structured whole. The landscape is tangible out there and simultaneously a mental reality. Several perspectives are obvious because of language, culture and background. Many disciplines developed to study the landscape focussing on specific interest groups and applications. Gradually the holistic way of seeing became lost. This book explores the different perspectives on the landscape in relation to its holistic nature. We start from its multiple linguistic meanings and a comprehensive overview of the development of landscape research from its geographical origins to the wide variety of today's specialised disciplines and interest groups. Understanding the different perspectives on the landscapes and bringing them together is essential in transdisciplinary approaches where the landscape is the integrating concept.

Identity Politics and the Third World revisits the theories of identification in challenging existing methods of ascertaining developing world identities on the grounds of objectivity and universality. The construction of postcolonial identities refers to the creation of systems of identification. This construction is undertaken at two levels: by the colonizer, in the form of myths about the subject races and a simultaneous belief in the notion that the subject cannot represent him/herself; and subsequently, by the colonized in an attempt to resist colonization and establish a sense of solidarity against the rulers. In the global context, the third world becomes a market place where identities are framed by the laws of consumer dynamics. Identities are again constructed here on two levels: by the forces of multinational economics, in the form of essentially hybrid, homogenously differentiated communities, and, in counterpoint, by the myths of unique national cultures. This book is designed to describe and critically analyse the structuring of identity and culture and the politics that informs them. Centering on the concepts of `polarity' and `in-betweenness', the idea of cosmopolitan or global identity is deconstructed in the wake of capitalist consumerism and multinational politics using the theories of identity construction and representation as formulated by Edward Said and Homi Bhabha for understanding colonialist politics and the postcolonial condition.

Spanish popular culture is one of the richest in the world. The absence of an efficient ruling class has allowed the people to stamp their personality on all major aspects of the country's life. This book describes the peculiar Spanish feeling for death and tragedy in popular religious practices, music and the bullfight; the fiesta sense of life, so foreign to the work ethic of other Western countries; the oral tradition that has managed to survive into the post-industrial age with its creative use of slang, proverbs and obscenity; popular literature, the press, radio, television and the movies.

Students and scholars will appreciate the first comprehensive treatment of Spanish popular culture in a single volume. The author has done first-hand research in all the major regions of Spain and has compiled a list of major archives and resource centers. An extensive bibliography on the major fields of popular Spanish culture is included at the end of each chapter.

This "Reader" recounts the story of the emergence and impact of postmodern thought in human geography. The editors have brought together in a single volume the pivotal writings of the period since 1965. Through these, and their connecting narratives, the editors engage what has been the most invigorating intellectual roller-coaster ride in geography's recent history.
Recounts the story of the emergence and impact of postmodern thought in human geography.
Brings together in a single volume the pivotal writings of the period since 1965.
Engages with what has been the most invigorating intellectual roller-coaster ride in geography's recent history.
Eraces the shift in human geography from a plethora of pre-postmodern paradigms to the emergence of a postmodern consciousness.
Outlines an agenda for a postmodern human geographical theory and practice that sympathetically intersects with feminism, postcolonialism, cultural studies, and environmentalism.

Traditionally sight has been the only sense with a ticket to enter the museum. The same is true of histories of art, in which artworks are often presented as purely visual objects. In The Museum of the Senses Constance Classen offers a new way of approaching the history of art through the senses, revealing how people used to handle, smell and even taste collection pieces. Topics range from the tactile power of relics to the sensuous allure of cabinets of curiosities, and from the feel of a Rembrandt to the scent of Monet's garden. The book concludes with a discussion of how contemporary museums are stimulating the senses through interactive and multimedia displays. Classen, a leading authority on the cultural history of the senses, has produced a fascinating study of sensual and emotional responses to artefacts from the middle ages to the present. The Museum of the Senses is an important read for anyone interested in the history of art as well as for students and researchers in cultural studies and museum studies.

This book brings together social sciencists to create an interdisciplinary dialogue on the topic of social change as a cultural process. Culture is as much about novelty as it is about tradition, as much about change as it is about stability. This dynamic tension is analyzed in collective protests, intergroup dynamics, language, mass media, science, community participation, art, and social transitions to capitalism, among other contexts. These diverse cases illustrate a number of key factors that can propel, slow-down and retract social change. An emancipatory and integrative social science is developed in this book, which offers a new explanatory model of human behavior and thought under conditions of institutional and societal change.

This book narrates the extraordinary growth in the study of Arabic in England from the late sixteenth century, when it was almost non-existent, to the end of the seventeenth. By its high point around 1666, England was pre-eminent among European countries in the study of Arabic. Permanent Chairs of Arabic had been established at Oxford and Cambridge, and specialized presses in Oxford and London had produced Arabic works. The Professor at Oxford, Edward Pococke, was recognized as the foremost scholar in the field in Europe, and a great collection of Arabic manuscripts, begun by Archbishop Laud, was being built up at Oxford. In this masterly and original study, Professor Toomer gives the first detailed account of this process, set against the religious and political background in England and Europe. He shows how trade with the Ottoman Empire and mistrust of Islam influenced the study of Arabic. Finally, he traces the course and causes of the drastic decline in Arabic studies towards the end of the century.

This book provides a systematic study of the political, economic, cultural, and educational changes that have taken place in China since 1978, and examines the impacts of these changes on the Chinese people's thinking and behavior. Jing Lin traces the gradual change of the Chinese from obedient, unquestioning citizens to critical and intelligent thinkers. She points out that with the more relaxed political and economic environment the Chinese people have gone through a period of reflection on their communist past, which has resulted in a new sense of identity and a more independent spirit. The book also looks at how the Chinese have begun to learn from other countries, resulting in an ongoing desire for openness and democracy.

This collection of essays aims to investigate the complex issues surrounding contemporary cultural discourses on land and identity - their production, construction, and reconstruction across a range of different texts and materials. The chapters offer disciplinary and trans-disciplinary approaches opening up discussion and new routes for research in a number of interrelated areas such as Countryside vs. City, Diaspora, Landscapes of Memory and Trauma, Migrational Spaces, and Ecology. They represent a number of innovative contemporary responses to how concepts of land intersect and dialogue with notions of identity across and between regions, nations, races, and cultures. Through employing interdisciplinary methods and theories drawn from diverse sources, such as cultural studies, spatial theory, philosophy and literary theory, the chapters chart varied and complex themes of identity formation in relation to spatiality.

Improving the relationship between archaeology and local government represents one of the next great challenges facing archaeology -specifically archaeology done in urban settings. Not only does local government have access to powerful legal tools and policy mechanisms that can offer protection for privately owned archaeological sites, but because local government exists at the grassroots level, it is also often closer to people who have deep knowledge about the community itself, about its values, and about the local meaning of the sites most in need of protection. This partnership between archaeology and local government can also provide visibility and public programing for heritage sites. This book will explore the experiences, both positive and negative, of small and large cities globally. We have examined programs in the Commonwealth of Nations (formerly known as the British Commonwealth) and in the United States. These countries share similar perspectives on preservation and heritage, although the approaches these cities have taken to address municipal archaeology reveals considerable diversity. The case studies highlight how these innovative partnerships have developed, and explain how they function within local government. Engaging with the political sphere to advocate for and conduct archaeology requires creativity, flexibility, and the ability to develop collaborative partnerships. How these archaeological partnerships benefit the community is a vital part of the equation. Heritage and tourist benefits are discussed. Economic challenges during downturns in the economy are analyzed. The book also examines public outreach programs and the grassroots efforts to protect and preserve a community's archaeological heritage.

This book comprehensively explores the changes in the Chinese spiritual world from the perspective of transition and transformation. Chinese feeling, a brand-new concept corresponding to Chinese experience, refers to the vicissitudes that 1.3 billion Chinese people have been through in their spiritual worlds. The book discusses this concept together with Chinese experience, two aspects of the transformation of the Chinese mentality that resulted from the unprecedented social changes since 1978, and which have given this unique era historical meaning and cultural values. At the same time they offer a dual perspective for understanding this great social transition. Further, the book considers what will happen if we only focus on the "Chinese Experience" while neglecting the "Chinese Feeling"; the changes the Chinese people undergo when their desires, wishes and personalities have changed China; and how their emotionally charged social mentality follow ebbs and flows of the changing society. Lastly it asks what embarrassment and frustration the population will be faced with next after the tribulations their spiritual world has already been through.

In the last three decades, the human body has gained increasing prominence in contemporary political debates, and it has become a central topic of modern social sciences and humanities. Modern technologies - such as organ transplants, stem-cell research, nanotechnology, cosmetic surgery and cryonics - have changed how we think about the body. In this collection of thirty original essays by leading figures in the field, these issues are explored across a number of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives, including pragmatism, feminism, queer theory, post-modernism, post-humanism, cultural sociology, philosophy and anthropology. A wide range of case studies, which include cosmetics, diet, organ transplants, racial bodies, masculinity and sexuality, eating disorders, religion and the sacred body, and disability, are used to appraise these different perspectives. In addition, this Handbook explores various epistemological approaches to the basic question: what is a body? It also offers a strongly themed range of chapters on empirical topics that are organized around religion, medicine, gender, technology and consumption. It also contributes to the debate over the globalization of the body: how have military technology, modern medicine, sport and consumption led to this contemporary obsession with matters corporeal? The Handbook's clear, direct style will appeal to a wide undergraduate audience in the social sciences, particularly for those studying medical sociology, gender studies, sports studies, disability studies, social gerontology, or the sociology of religion. It will serve to consolidate the new field of body studies.

This volume examines the culture of Canadian Jews, with particular attention to their European roots. The essays address Yiddish literature, writings of authors working in French and English, as well as contemporary Jewish life. Cet ouvrage collectif examine la culture des juifs canadiens, originaires de l'Europe de l'Est. Les essais portent sur la litterature yiddish, l'ecriture des juifs de langue francaise et anglaise ainsi que la vie juive contemporaine au Canada.

Prehistoric North Americans lived on, in, and surrounded by nature. As a result, everything they were resulted from this co-existence. From interpersonal relations to supernatural beliefs, from housing size and function to the food they ate and clothing they wore, the life of Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans was intimately intertwined with the environment. What is known about these societies is often sketchy at best, having survived largely through archaeological remains and oral tradition. Scholars have tried to understand Native American history on its own terms, trying to understand who and what they were in reality - a complex, diverse multitude of populations that defined themselves entirely through what they saw, heard, and experienced everyday - their natural environment. Nature and the Environment in Pre-Columbian American Life provides an overview of all aspects of how native peoples interacted with the environment: How did prehistoric North Americans use their knowledge of the environment to hunt and gather for food, or raise crops? What was the interaction between humans and animals? How did Native Americans find entertainment and leisure in their environments? How and where did people live in conjunction with and often in spite of the elements? This accessible resource provides an excellent introduction for those needing a first step to researching the daily lives of Native Americans in the centuries before the arrival of Europeans.

Taking the concept of beauty seriously, this encyclopedia examines how humanity has sought and continues to seek what is "beautiful" in a variety of cultural contexts, giving readers an understanding of how to look at beauty both intellectually and critically. Is beauty ever more than "skin deep"? Arguably yes, considering that the concept of beauty-and the pursuit of it-has shaped cultures worldwide, across every time period, and has even served to change the course of history. Studying beauty practices yields insight into social status, wealth, political ideology, religious doctrine, and gender expectations, including gender nonconformity. A truly interdisciplinary text, Beauty around the World: A Cultural Encyclopedia presents an insightful perspective on beauty that draws from philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and feminist studies, giving readers a unique view of world beauty practices. This volume offers information about beauty practices from the past to the present in alphabetical entries that address terms and topics such as "beards," "dreadlocks," "Geisha," "moko tattoos," and "progressive muscularity." Readers will better comprehend how beauty shapes many social interactions in profound ways worldwide, and that the unspoken social agreements that shape ideals of attractiveness and desirability within any given culture can matter very much. The encyclopedia's entries challenge readers to consider the questions "What is beauty?" and "Why does it matter?" A comprehensive bibliography is a valuable resource for further research. Provides an interdisciplinary approach to world beauty practices, from the earliest experiments in plastic surgery in 600 B.C. to contemporary practices Gives readers a representative overview of beauty practices around the globe Documents how from cosmetics to clothing, exercise to body modification, being beautiful is a goal worldwide Identifies numerous authoritative sources of information for further research and reading

Fans used to be seen as an overly obsessed fraction of the audience. In the last few decades, shifts in media technology and production have instead made fandom a central mode of consumption. A range of ideas has emerged to explore different facets of this growing phenomenon. With a foreword by Matt Hills, " Understanding Fandom" introduces the whole field of fan research by looking at the history of debate, key paradigms and methodological issues. The book discusses insights from scholars working with fans of different texts, genres and media forms, including television and popular music. Mark Duffett shows that fan research is an emergent interdisciplinary field with its own key thinkers: a tradition that is distinct from both textual analysis and reception studies. Drawing on a range of debates from media studies, cultural studies and psychology, Duffett argues that fandom is a particular kind of engagement with the power relations of media culture.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.

"Patricia McDaniel provides an insightful look at the historical construction of shyness in Western scoiety. This book is an important contribution to the literature on the sociology of emotions and the sociology of gender."--"Contemporary Sociology"

"This book's significance lies in its treatment of an emotional state and in its use of documents that have heretofore received little attention from historians."
--"The Jourrnal of American History"

"In this thoroughy researched study, McDaniel pretty much provides anything any academic might ever want to kow about shyness in society."
--" Library Journal"

Since World War II Americans' attitudes towards shyness have changed. The women's movement and the sexual revolution raised questions about communication, self-expression, intimacy, and personality, leading to new concerns about shyness. At the same time, the growth of psychotherapy and the mental health industry brought shyness to the attention of professionals who began to regard it as an illness in need of a cure. But what is shyness? How is it related to gender, race, and class identities? And what does its stigmatization say about our culture?

In Shrinking Violets and Caspar Milquetoasts, Patricia McDaniel tells the story of shyness. Using popular self-help books and magazine articles she shows how prevailing attitudes toward shyness frequently work to disempower women. She draws on evidence as diverse as 1950s views of shyness as a womanly virtue to contemporary views of shyness as a barrier to intimacy to highlight how cultural standards governing shyness reproduce and maintain power differencesbetween and among women and men.

This is a must read book for African Government policy makers to help them go over hunger...an annual 'predictable disaster. It is a vital support material for high school students and College students. Whereas It is aligned along the Agriculture syllabi for Botswana and Kenya, it has 90% of the syllabi items for the High SChool syllabi for most other developing countries. A hungry nation is on a journey to nowhere.

This truly unique volume brings together theoretical discussions of liberalizations with studies focused on literature, theatre and the visual arts. To the analysis of developments in selected Eastern European regions is added a historical dimension through discussions of the alternation of liberalization and repression in authoritarian European states from the eighteenth century onwards.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

aTo the Break of Dawn marks a crucial turning point in hip-hop writing. . . . By opening the discourse on hip-hopas aesthetic, Cobb spearheads a new sub-genre, and perhaps a return or revolution in hip-hop aesthetics.a
--"Black Issues Book Review"

a[P]eels back the many digitized layers of hip-hop to explore the evolution of the MC, from African folkloric traditions to the global (and often hypercommercial) phenomenon it is today.
a--"Utne"

SEE ALSO: "Pimps Up, Hoas Down: Hip Hopas Hold on Young Black Women" by T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting.

aTo the Break of Dawn is smart, funny, conversational -- a book to touch off serious study of the modern MC.a
--"The Austin Chronicle"

aUpon finishing To The Break of Dawn any objective fan will acknowledge that Cobb has done a commendable job in chronicling rapas evolution and explaining its multiple influences and impact.a
--"City Paper"

aTo the Break of Dawn dissects the evolution of hip hop lyricism from its most primitive beginnings to its current manifestation as a global phenomenon. Author Jelani Cobb examines issues of race, geography, genre and bravado in this overview of hip hopas lyrical art. Covering words from B.I.G., Cube, Obie Trice and Pimp C, Cobb offers an intellectual and up-to-date report on hip hopas most powerful elementa
--"The Source Magazine"

aWhat makes William Jelani Cobb's To the Break of Dawn so refreshing is that it centers on what hip-hop is, rather than on what it does. Eschewing the common practice of treating rap lyrics as just another way to talk about race, politics or the self, Cobb treats them as art. His aim is ambitious: toarticulate hip-hop's aesthetic principles while tracing its roots back to the aancestral poetic and musical traditionsa of black oral culture, from Sunday sermons to gut-bucket blues. To the Break of Dawn celebrates lyrical invention, the artists and even the particular rhymes that make hip-hop great. For the uninitiated, it is Hip-Hop 101, offering a rich overview of rap's verbal artistry. For the aficionado, it alternately affirms and challenges deeply held beliefs of what is valuable in hip-hop.a
--"Washington Post Book World"

aThis book makes an important contribution to hip-hop history. . . . Cobbas writing style is engaging, and the book benefits from the legitimacy provided by the authoras background: he is a former MC who grew up with the culture.a
--"Choice"

aOn literally every page [Cobb] displays a tremendous command of language and history as he aexamines the aesthetic, stylistic, and thematic evolution of hip hop from its inception in the South Bronx to the present era.a But make no mistake: this groundbreaking work is an artfully constructed and vividly written look at athe artistic evolution of rap music and its relationship to earlier forms of black expression.a Much of the book's pleasure also comes from Cobb's ability to afreestylea serious and humorous insights-from how artists such as Tupac and Nas sometimes astepped outside the conventions of hip-hop to pen sympathetic narratives about the sexual exploitation of young women, a to how LL Cool J's pioneering aI Need a Beata sounded alike he'd raided every entry in an SAT book.a aa
--"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)

aVital stuff for hip hop fans eager to know more about their favorite culturalidiomas development and underpinnings.a
--"Booklist"

aAt a time when academics are just beginning to recognize hip hop as a legitimate form, William Jelani Cobb, a child of rap himself, brings an unparalleled level of understanding to the music. His historically informed yet hip-to-the-tip viewpoint roots readers in the art form rather than the hype.a
--Chuck D

aWith poetic passion and surgical precision, William Jelani Cobb's engaging exploration of the hip hop aesthetic lovingly demonstrates that, when it comes to beats and rhymes, the beauty of the (bass) god resides in the details.a
--Joan Morgan, author of "When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost"

aFinally, a hip hop study that captures the verve and swagger that marked the work of our critical forebears Albert Murray and Amiri Baraka. In his brilliant new tome, William Jelani Cobb bridges the gap between the majesty of the blues and the gully regality of hip hop.a
--Mark Anthony Neal, author of "New Black Man"

"Wow! "To the Break of Dawn" is a crucial contribution to hip hop history. I'm thrilled that William Jelani Cobb has documented hip hop's relationship to the blues. If you want to truly understand how hip hop was born, read this booka
--MC Lyte

"aTo the Break of Dawn" tells the serious story of hip hop's artistic roots, and in the process revels in the great MCs who stand at the crossroads of music and literature. In a crowded field of hip hop scholars, pundits, and journalists, "To the Break of Dawn" puts William Jelani Cobb way out in front.a
--Ta-Nehisi Coates

aUpon finishing To the Break of Dawn, any objective fan will acknowledge that Cobb has done a commendable job in chronicling rapasevolution and explaining its multiple influences and impact. Hereas a fresh look at a music that continues to electrify, confound, alienate, and fascinate.a
--"Nashville City Paper"

"He'll idle with some prelim scratches to let the crowd know what's coming next. And if his boy got skills enough, if the verbal game is tight enough, that right there will be the kinetic moment, that blessed split-second when beat meets rhyme."

With roots that stretch from West Africa through the black pulpit, hip-hop emerged in the streets of the South Bronx in the 1970s and has spread to the farthest corners of the earth. To the Break of Dawn uniquely examines this freestyle verbal artistry on its own terms. A kid from Queens who spent his youth at the epicenter of this new art form, music critic William Jelani Cobb takes readers inside the beats, the lyrics, and the flow of hip-hop, separating mere corporate rappers from the creative MCs that forged the art in the crucible of the street jam.

The four pillars of hip hop--break dancing, graffiti art, deejaying, and rapping--find their origins in traditions as diverse as the Afro-Brazilian martial art Capoeira and Caribbean immigrants' turnstile artistry. Tracing hip-hop's relationship to ancestral forms of expression, Cobb explores the cultural and literary elements that are at its core. From KRS-One and Notorious B.I.G. to Tupac Shakur and Lauryn Hill, he profiles MCs who were pivotal to the rise of the genre, verbal artists whose lineage runs back to the black preacher and the bluesman.

Unlike books that focus on hip-hop as a social movement or a commercial phenomenon, To the Break of Dawn tracks the music's aesthetic, stylistic, and thematic evolution from its inception to today's distinctly regional sub-divisions and styles. Written with an insider's ear, the book illuminates hip-hop's innovations in a freestyle form that speaks to both aficionados and newcomers to the art.

Immigrants from South Asian countries are among the fastest growing segment of our population. This work, designed for students and interested readers, provides the first in-depth examination of recent South Asian immigrant groups--their history and background, current facts, comparative cultures, and contributions to contemporary American life. Groups discussed include Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Nepalis, and Afghans. The topics covered include patterns of immigration, adaption to American life and work, cultural traditions, religious traditions, women's roles, the family, adolescence, and dating and marriage. Controversial questions are examined: Does the American political economy welcome or exploit South Asian immigrants? Are American and South Asian values compatible? Leonard shows how the American social, religious, and cultural landscape looks to these immigrants and the contributions they make to it, and she outlines the experiences and views of the various South Asian groups. Statistics and tables provide information on migration, population, income, and employment. Biographical profiles of noted South Asian Americans, a glossary of terms, and selected maps and photos complete the text.

The opening chapter introduces the reader to South Asian history, culture, and politics, material on which the rest of the book draws because of its continuing relevance to South Asians settled in the United States. Leonard provides a fascinating look at the early South Asian immigrant Punjabi Mexican American community whose second and third generations are grappling with the issue of being Mexican, Hindu, and American. A comparative examination of immigrant groups from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan illuminates the similarities and differences of their rich cultural and religious traditions, the social fabric of their communities, and how these immigrants have adapted to American life. Leonard looks closely at the diversity of cultural traditions--music, dance, poetry, foods, fashion, yoga, fine arts, entertainment, and literature--and how these traditions have changed in the United States. Keeping the family together is important to these immigrants. Leonard examines family issues, second generation identities, adolescence, making marriages, and wedding traditions. This work provides a wealth of information for students and interested readers to help them understand South Asian immigrant life, culture, and contributions to American life.