This volume brings together work by established and emerging scholars to consider the work and impact of Bhai Vir Singh. Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) was a major force in the shaping of modern Sikh and Punjabi culture, language, and politics in the undivided colonial Punjab, prior to the Partition of the province in 1947, and in the post-colonial state of India. The chapters in this book explore how he both reflected and shaped his time and context, and address some of the ongoing legacy of his work in the lives of contemporary Sikhs. The contributors analyze the varied genres, literary and historical, that were adopted and adapted by Bhai Vir Singh to foreground and enhance Sikh religiosity and identity. These include his novels, didactic pamphlets, journalistic writing, prefatory and exegetical work on spiritual and secular historical documents, and his poems and lyrics, among others. The book will be of particular interest to those working in Sikh studies, South Asian studies and post-colonial studies.

Never before in human history have vegetarianism and a plant-based economy been so closely associated with sustainability and the promise of tackling climate change. Nowhere is this phenomenon more visible than in India, which is home to the largest number of vegetarians globally and where vegetarianism is intrinsic to Hinduism. India is often considered a global model for vegetarianism. However, in this book, which is the outcome of eight months of fieldwork conducted among vegetarian and non-vegetarian producers, traders, regulators and consumers, I show that the reality in India is quite different, with large sections of communities being meat-eaters. In 2011, vegetarian/veg/green and nonvegetarian/ non-veg/brown labels on all packaged foods/drinks were introduced in India. Paradoxically, this grand scheme was implemented at a time when meat and non-vegetarian food production, trade and consumption were booming. The overarching argument of the book is that a systematic study of the complex and changing relationship between vegetarian and non-vegetarian understandings and practices illuminates broader transformations and challenges that relate to markets, the state, religion, politics and identities in India and beyond. The book’s empirical focus is on the changing relationship between vegetarian/ non-vegetarian as understood, practised and contested in middle-class India, while remaining attentive to the vegetarian/non-vegetarian modernities that are at the forefront of global sustainability debates. Through the application of this approach, the book provides a novel theory of human values and markets in a global middle-class perspective.

This book describes the career of an English aristocrat, Christopher Bethell, who arrives in southern Africa in 1878 as the classic "remittance" man, despatched to the colonies to avoid a scandal at home. Bethell, an intelligence officer and later, a border agent, is the protagonist who facilitated the acquisition of arms for Montshiwa's Ratshidi-Barolong to resist the depredations of freebooters, mercenaries based mostly in the Transvaal. In his alliance with Kgosi Montshiwa Tawana, Bethell identifies with Kgosi Montshiwa’s struggle to maintain political independence and economic security. The alliance was further cemented by Bethell’s marriage to a Morolong woman Tepo Boapile – an unusual occurrence in nineteenth century southern Africa. Surrounded by aggressive freebooters from across their eastern border with the Transvaal and the ambiguous forces of colonial advancement from the Cape colony and Britain, Montshiwa and Bethell form an unlikely but enduring relationship aimed at safeguarding Rolong interests. As the Bechuanaland Wars of the early to mid-1880s intensify in brutality Montshiwa and his Chief of Staff, Christopher Bethell are forced to desperate measures to defend the Rolong and avoid outright dispossession. Bethell’s demise is the trigger for firm British imperial intervention, the securing of the Road to the North and events that will determine the fate of Africans in south and central Africa. The book is a reminder that, in the author’s words, "past relations between South Africa’s different races were characterised as much by collusion and collaboration as they were by hostility, friction and dissent."

This book offers an anthropological account of Sri Lanka’s Eelam Wars III and IV. It is based on the life-narratives of ex-servicemen who fought on the frontlines. The volume approaches militarism as a practice of masculinity. It explores the sense of embattlement that young recruits feel, which stems from the inner war between notions of bodily deference instilled in childhood and having to conduct offensives on the battlefield. Thus though they wish to move smoothly into the assault techniques learnt in combat-training, they sometimes find their bodies are acting-out a different trajectory; engaging in acts of spectacular violence or simply running away. It traverses themes such as masculinity and Sinhala society, British martial masculinity vs the composed body in Sinhala discourse, combat-training and the battlefield. The author traces the ways in which troops tried to negotiate the thin line between valour and violence in a context in which the enemy’s suicide fighters engaged in the more extreme code of sacrificing-the-body, which derided the very manliness of soldiers who couldn’t prevail against them. She argues that the Sri Lankan experience has resonance for soldiers on battlefields everywhere, who become embattled when confronted by adversaries whose practice seems to diminish their own manliness. Rich in ethnographical narratives, this book will be interest scholars and researchers of war studies, gender studies, masculinity studies, peace and conflict studies, ethnic studies, political science, international relations, sociology, social anthropology, cultural studies, and South Asian studies, especially those concerned with Sri Lanka.

This book discusses the significance of social geography, a multi-dimensional concept encompassing social health, social security and social ethos. It presents the socio-spatial dynamics of the population in India through an understanding of the various issues related to migration, urbanisation, unemployment, poverty and public health. With a thorough analysis of various social indicators relating to health, education, income and employment, the volume presents a detailed picture of the social geography of India. It discusses in detail, The origin, nature and scope of social geography, its relations with other social sciences and applications The nature and importance of social well-being along with welfare geography and the role of welfare state in ensuring social well-being The population of India and its attributes The status and spatial patterns of various social indicators relating to health, education and income and employment The composite indices which aggregate several social indicators such as the Human Development Index, Multidimensionally Poverty Index, Global Hunger Index, Gross National Happiness, Sustainable Developmental Goals Index and Freedom Index in the context of India. This comprehensive book will be useful for students, researchers and teachers of social geography, human geography, population geography, demography and sociology. The book can also be used by students preparing for exams like civil services, UPSC, PSC and other competitive exams.

This book argues that the world order is no longer unipolar, and the war in Ukraine proves this fact. As this study describes and theorizes, it has been transformed into a Multipolar World Order 2.0 stage. This title critically examines Chinese, US, Russian, EU, Indian, and a number of other powers’ cooperation and competition over security, diplomatic, economic and cyberspace issues. Accomplished scholars from various regions of the Eurasian continent consider the impact of the Russo–Ukrainian war, the Sino–Russian strategic partnership, China’s relations with the United States and the European Union, the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative, the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Eurasian Economic Union, China’s policies in the Middle East, Central Asia, Indo-Asia Pacific, the South Caucasus, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as focus on details of growing contradictions and collaboration in the Eurasian continent over markets, technologies, digital leadership, vaccine distribution, and financial institutions in the Era of Multipolar World Order 2.0. Showing that the US-centred unipolar world order is replaced by Multipolar World Order 2.0 where conflicting powers fight to keep or extend their spheres of influence, this volume is of great interest to decision makers, diplomats, scholars and students of international relations, politics, global governance, Eurasian studies, Chinese studies, cybersecurity, and economics, and for those studying human security, international organizations, and geopolitics.

This book examines political humor as a reaction to the lost war, the post-war chaos, and antisemitic violence in Hungary between 1918 and 1922. While there is an increased body of literature on Jewish humor as a form of resistance and a means of resilience during the Holocaust, only a handful of studies have addressed Jewish humor as a reaction to physical attacks and increased discrimination in Europe during and after the First World War. The majority of studies have approached the issue of Jewish humor from an anthropological, cultural, or linguistic perspective; they have been interested in the humor of lower- or lower-middle-class Jews in the East European shtetles before 1914. On the other hand, this study follows a historical and political approach to the same topic and focuses on the reaction of urban, middle-class, and culturally assimilated Jews to recent events: to the disintegration of the Dual Monarchy, the collapse of law and order, increased violence, the reversal of Jewish emancipation and the rise of new and more pernicious antisemitic prejudices. The study sees humor not only as a form of entertainment and jokes as literature and a product of popular culture, but also as a heuristic device to understand the world and make sense of recent changes, as well as a means to defend one’s social position, individual and group identity, strike back at the enemy, and last but not least, to gain the support and change the hearts and minds of non-Jews and neutral bystanders. Unlike previous scholarly works on Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, this study sees Budapest Jewish humor after WWI as a joint adventure: as a product of urban and Hungarian culture, in which Jewish not only played an important role but also cofounded. Finally, the book addressed the issue of continuity in Hungarian history, the "twisted road to Auschwitz": whether urban Jewish humor, as a form of escapism, helped to desensitize the future victims of the Holocaust to the approaching danger, or it continued to play the same defensive and positive role in the interwar period, as it had done in the immediate aftermath of the Great War.

This book argues that mainstream economics cannot explain the underdevelopment and poverty of Nepal, neither can it be explained in terms of economics alone nor capital inadequacy even, as is conventionally believed. The author asserts that Nepal's underdevelopment needs to be located in the nature of the state which has been shaped by the collusion of interest among politicians and the resulting bureaucracy, triggering the growth of crony capitalism. The book presents a critical and radical analysis of factors that have kept Nepal in a state of underdevelopment and poverty, with huge section of the society in underprivileged and deprived socio-economic conditions, despite six decades of planning, seven decades of dependence on foreign aid, and numerous political regime changes, from the Rana regime for over a century from 1846-1950 through to the republic regime from 2007 onwards. To support this argument, the book delves into an exploration of growth performance in Nepal, government attempts at poverty alleviation, foreign aid and its effects in the economy and the nature of the state, with a focus on Maoists' 10-year rebellion. Each chapter presents the existing picture and examines the possible reasons for the failure in achieving the desired results. A comparative analysis of Nepal's position with respect to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries is also presented in a number of chapters. The audience for the book will be students, academics and researchers, and within Nepal itself, intellectuals, politicians, and officials of the National Planning Commission, the central bank and other banks and financial institutions.

This book offers an anthropological account of Sri Lanka’s Eelam Wars III and IV. It is based on the life-narratives of ex-servicemen who fought on the frontlines. The volume approaches militarism as a practice of masculinity. It explores the sense of embattlement that young recruits feel, which stems from the inner war between notions of bodily deference instilled in childhood and having to conduct offensives on the battlefield. Thus though they wish to move smoothly into the assault techniques learnt in combat-training, they sometimes find their bodies are acting-out a different trajectory; engaging in acts of spectacular violence or simply running away. It traverses themes such as masculinity and Sinhala society, British martial masculinity vs the composed body in Sinhala discourse, combat-training and the battlefield. The author traces the ways in which troops tried to negotiate the thin line between valour and violence in a context in which the enemy’s suicide fighters engaged in the more extreme code of sacrificing-the-body, which derided the very manliness of soldiers who couldn’t prevail against them. She argues that the Sri Lankan experience has resonance for soldiers on battlefields everywhere, who become embattled when confronted by adversaries whose practice seems to diminish their own manliness. Rich in ethnographical narratives, this book will be interest scholars and researchers of war studies, gender studies, masculinity studies, peace and conflict studies, ethnic studies, political science, international relations, sociology, social anthropology, cultural studies, and South Asian studies, especially those concerned with Sri Lanka.

This book makes a systematic attempt to explore the environmental history of Darjeeling during the British colonial period (1835-1947), which profoundly transformed the environment of Darjeeling by intro­ducing commercial control over the natural resources. After the foundation of Darjeeling as the hill station for the low-income groups of British administration living in Bengal and Burma, the place was transformed into a social, recreational and commercial centre for the British authorities. The railway construction boom, introduction of tea plantation, the growth of a commercial market for timber and increasing demands for fuel and building materials depleted the forest cover. The less explored regions of Darjeeling attracted the adventure-thirsty Britons. A series of investigations were made on the marketable prod­ucts, the condition of roads, and quality of soil of these regions. The ethnographic, geological, botanical and zoological study of the Darjeeling was started by the colonial officials in the nineteenth century. In the early stage of expansion of colonialism in Asia, Africa, Australia and South America, the European colonizers faced numerous problems in dealing with the untouched nature. The accumulation of the knowledge of surrounding regions and proper management of the labour became essential for the colonial authority for transformation of the existing environment of the densely forested tropical colonies. Taylor and Francis does not sell or distribute the print editions of this book in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

This book sketches the history of political forces in modern India. It begins defining these political categories of left, right and far-right with the usual reference to French Revolution (for want of an indigenous equivalent), and discusses movement of forces towards left, or towards the right from the balance of socio-political forces or status quo at a point of time in India. It recalls historical facts, uses chronological order for clarity and leaders’ names and political parties, their world view and ideas of nation, social groups they represented, and their movements. It progresses by reopening only a few windows to modern Indian history and looks at periods like, the 1920-30s, and 1970-80s, when there were significant movements and consolidation of socio-political forces to the right and far right. At the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were a series of policy proposals, legislations to nationalize assets and launch direct attacks on poverty that marked a sharp turn to the leftist ideology in Delhi (the central government of the time). Following these, a coalition of mostly right-wing forces rose to challenge the government at the centre and succeeded. This occurred in the context of heated Cold War geopolitics. Taylor and Francis does not sell or distribute the print editions of this book in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

This book is a fierce argument against social and caste discrimination in India, especially untouchability and emphatic call for social justice. Written by a first-generation Kannada Dalit writer, the book provides an insider's view of caste discrimination as the author has lived through and experienced it. It traces the roots of present-day activism against caste discrimination, the influence of Ambedkar, the rise of Hindutva, and the role of Dalit literatures in shaping discourses around caste in India. An invigorating collection of essays and speeches by Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of discrimination, literature, politics and political philosophy, exclusion studies, race, social justice, cultural studies, and South Asian studies.

With a range of case studies from every continent, the contributors to this book analyze the challenges that arise for states living with much larger neighbors, and the policies they develop to account for this asymmetry. Bringing together the perspectives of bilateral relations and the study of small states, this book analyzes a range of scenarios where one or more smaller countries must manage relations with a much larger neighbor or neighbors, from the perspective of the smaller countries. Each case presents different priorities, depending on the relationship between the states concerned, while highlighting the commonalities across the various scenarios. The range of cases and contributors is wide and diverse, with examples including Togo’s relationship with Ghana, Mongolia’s with China, and Colombia’s with Brazil – as well as more widely known examples such as Canada and the United States, or Australia and New Zealand. A valuable resource for scholars and students of international relations, and public policy of small- and medium-sized states.

This book explores food in India and its evolution from pre-historic times to contemporary food trends while highlighting the intersections between culture, rituals, environment and the economy with food, ingredients and eating practices. It looks at the history of food and food preferences in India by studying historical, medicinal and religious texts. The book analyses preferences and taboos from a social, anthropological, cultural, political and economic perspective, mapping how food practices influence and are influenced by religion, production and distribution, ecology and social class. It also examines consumption practices, problems with food production, agricultural distress, food and farming reforms, globalization of food, the adoption of sustainable practices and the future of farming, diets and eating. Engaging and comprehensive, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, political studies, development studies and food studies.

China’s emergence as an aid donor in Africa has caught global attention, with China’s activity being viewed as the projection of soft power of a neo-colonialist kind in an international relations context. This book, which focuses on China’s education aid - government scholarships, training, Confucius Institutes, dispatched teachers, etc. – reveals a much more complicated picture. It outlines how the divide between the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education hinders China’s soft power projection, how much of China’s aid is bound up with an education-for-economic-growth outlook, mirroring China’s own recent experiences of economic development, and how China’s aid, prioritized to reflect the commercial sector’s interests, is out of step with most international development aid, which is dominated by education agendas and the campaigns of international organizations and traditional donors, which leaves China easily exposed to the charge of neo-colonialism. It emphasizes the international development cooperation architecture as an open system by which both traditional donors and Southern countries transform.

In Imaginary Performances in Shakespeare, visionary modernist theatre director Aureliu Manea analyses the theatrical possibilities of Shakespeare. Through nineteen Shakespeare plays, Manea sketches the intellectual parameters, the visual languages, and the emotional worlds of imagined stage interpretations of each; these nineteen short essays are appended by his essay 'Confessions,' an autobiographical meditation on the nature of theatre and the role of the director. This captivating book which will be attractive to anyone interested in Shakespeare and modern theatre.

This book provides a detailed understanding of how different types of engagements impact upon the reform and EU integration of the Western Balkan region. It examines the influence of Russia, China, Turkey and the UAE in the region and analyses the range of existing links. Contributors offer an academic and multifaceted perspective of the role of external and non-Western actors in the region that goes beyond, on the one hand, the tendency of some Western decision makers to perceive all engagement by third powers as a sinister threat and, on the other, the view of regional governments of all external involvement as a boon coming at a time of Western neglect and reduced foreign investments. By looking at the importance of Russia, Turkey, China and the UAE in the Western Balkans, the book sheds light on one key arena of global competition, offers new insights on the strengths and weaknesses of Euro-Atlantic integration and advances our knowledge of foreign policy and its economic, social and security dimensions for small and medium-sized countries. It will be of interest to academics, postgraduate and research students, and think-tankers with research interest in IR and Southeast European Studies. European decision makers will also gain an insight into the extent of non-Western influence in the region.

This book is an in-depth analysis of the educational development of tribals in India. Education as Development: Deprivation, Poverty, Dispossession is a significant new addition for understanding educational and economic setbacks experienced by the marginalized in India. The volume: * Focuses on how the social, economic and education systems have evolved over time in India and identifies the scope of development in these areas; * Provides a rational structure for readers to understand how the Adivasi in India can be made to fit in the modern designed education system; * Highlights the problems of the marginalized - such as income inequality, education, health, housing, governance, civil society environment and infrastructure and others which hampers their overall growth. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers and policy makers in the fields of education, minority studies, indigenous studies, sociology of education, and South Asian studies.

Mobile technology offers an innovative and cost-effective channel for delivering a range of financial services, including mobile payments. In some jurisdictions, mobile payments simply provide a convenient option for facilitating payment transactions. In other jurisdictions, mobile payments are viewed as potentially transformative because they present an opportunity to expand access to financial services. However, as with other innovations, mobile payments raise consumer protection concerns and require robust regulatory mechanisms to address such concerns. Against this backdrop, the book adopts a typology of consumer policy tools which can be used to address the identified consumer concerns. This typology guides the enquiry into the existing consumer protection frameworks applying to mobile payments in selected jurisdictions (Canada, Kenya, and the United Kingdom). The main objective of this endeavour is to identify best practices that national authorities seeking to leverage mobile payments and similar innovations can emulate. This book will be of interest to policymakers, regulators, industry stakeholders, students and scholars interested in the regulation of innovative financial services, particularly from a consumer protection perspective.

This book highlights emerging trends and new themes in South Asian history. It covers issues broadly related to religion, materiality and nature from differing perspectives and methods to offer a kaleidoscopic view of Indian history until the late eighteenth century. The essays in the volume focus on understanding questions of premodern religion, material culture processes and their spatial and environmental contexts through a study of networks of commodities and cultural and religious landscapes. From the early history of coastal regions such as Gujarat and Bengal to material networks of political culture, from temples and their connection with maritime trade to the importance of landscape in influencing temple-building, from regions considered peripheral to mainstream historiography to the development of religious sects, this collection of articles maps the diverse networks and connections across regions and time. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of history, archaeology, museum and heritage studies, religion, especially Hinduism, Sufism and Buddhism, and South Asian studies.

British Honduras (1951) examines this most neglected of the British colonies, from the early days of settlement by the logwood-cutters and buccaneers up to the post-war period. It examines the first occupation by British adventurers, consolidation by buccaneers and the early quarrels with the Spanish, up to the more recent disputes with neighbouring Central American republics. It ends with an analysis of the modern colony, its economic and commercial status and proposals for development by the British government.

Building on the author's 2012 book, Lee Kuan Yew's Strategic Thought, this new book presents a comprehensive overview of Lee Kuan Yew's strategic thought over the course of his entire life. It charts the development of Singapore over the last seven decades, showing how Lee Kuan Yew steered Singapore to prosperity and success through changing times and how he had an enormous impact on the development of Singapore and of Southeast Asia more generally. It analyses the factors underlying Lee Kuan Yew's thinking, discusses his own writings and speeches, and shows how his thinking on foreign policy, security and international relations evolved. It also appraises writing about Lee Kuan Yew and the memorialisation of him, assessing how views of his legacy have changed and continue to change.

This book examines various gender-based power politics in the Indian society. It studies gender intersectionality and feminism as a socio-political philosophy by understanding how power structures deeply rooted in and are supported by our patriarchal societies. A comprehensive and interdisciplinary study on women's issues in India, the volume, - Adopts an intersectional feminist lens to critically analyse identity formation, gender socialization, gender stereotyping and discrimination; - Discusses various interdisciplinary perspectives of feminism, including liberal and post-modern feminism, eco-feminism, and Dalit feminism. - Examines the concept and origin of patriarchy, alongside theories on masculinity while focusing heterogeneous male members and the hegemonic masculinity; - Investigates issues related to violence against gender and adequate implementation of law and rehabilitation policies in India; - Sheds light on women's labor and participation in the organized, service and unorganized sectors of work within India. This book will be of interest and use to students, teachers, scholars of women's and gender studies, intersectional feminism, sexuality studies, identity politics, political sociology at both undergraduate and post graduate levels.

This book examines partnerships between commercial banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs). It demonstrates that when set up properly, these partnerships have the potential to develop and enhance the financial inclusion agenda, and further support sustainable development. MFIs provide access to finance predominantly for those who are poor but economically active, and therefore their expansion is imperative for inclusive economic development. However, MFIs are faced with enormous challenges. The book discusses how partnering with a commercial bank can meet these challenges and the process of interaction contributing to the enhancement of institutional robustness of MFIs. Through two distinct case studies, in Cambodia and Australia, the book discusses the motivations, objectives and operational dynamics of a partnership, as well as the challenges, success factors, and potential benefits, from the increase in outreach and sustainability, to the transference of knowledge and potential for capacity building. Similarly, the partnering banks benefit in line with the intended objectives-commercial or social besides help embedding social consciousness and improving staff engagement. Concluding with elucidating the characteristics of a partnership model that can succeed across different global contexts, the book will interest a range of researchers and students across development economics, banking, finance, and sustainable development.

Provides an accessible study of the interactions of these two cultures, written by an author with expertise in the languages of both cultures.