1) This is a multidisciplinary volume on understanding neighbourhood in Urban South Asia as socio-spatial in character. 2) It contains articles on urban subjectivities and the idea of lived spaces with studies from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and India. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of urban sociology, anthropology, urban studies, planning and development, social history, political studies, cultural studies, geography and South Asian studies.

1) This is a multidisciplinary volume on understanding neighbourhood in Urban South Asia as socio-spatial in character. 2) It contains articles on urban subjectivities and the idea of lived spaces with studies from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and India. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of urban sociology, anthropology, urban studies, planning and development, social history, political studies, cultural studies, geography and South Asian studies.

1) This book critically examines the cultural politics of visuals in South Asia. 2) It contains essays written by experts from across South Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of South Asian Studies, visual and cultural studies, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, political studies, media and communications studies, performance studies, art history, television and film studies, photography studies. It will also interest practitioners including artists, visual artists, photographers, filmmakers and media critics.

1) This book critically examines the cultural politics of visuals in South Asia. 2) It contains essays written by experts from across South Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of South Asian Studies, visual and cultural studies, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, political studies, media and communications studies, performance studies, art history, television and film studies, photography studies. It will also interest practitioners including artists, visual artists, photographers, filmmakers and media critics.

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens' anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies. This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens' anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies. This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

Taking South Asia as its focus, this wide-ranging collection probes the general reluctance of the cultural anthropology to engage with contemporary visual art and artists, including painting, sculpture, performance art and installation. Through case studies engaged equally in anthropology and visual studies, contributors examine art and artistic production in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal to bring the social and political complexities of artistic practice to the fore. Demonstrating the potential of the visual as a means to understand a society, its values, and its politics, this volume ranges across discourses of anthropology, sociology, biography, memory, art history, and contemporary practices of visual art. Ultimately, Intersections of Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Art History in South Asia simultaneously expands and challenges the disciplinary foci of two fields: it demonstrates to art criticism and art history the necessity of anthropological and sociological methodologies and theories, while at the same time challenging the "iconophobia" of social sciences.

Compiling various strands of the dis/enchantment with development discourse in contemporary South Asia, with specific focus on the cases from India, this edited book brings together anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and historians to refresh the understanding of development. It introduces ways of thinking "otherwise" about development discourse and what the contributors term "developmentalism"-the social enchantment with development. The cultural discourse of development in contemporary South Asia manifests not only in the official programs of state agencies, but in cinema, television, and mass media. Dear to various stakeholders-from government leaders and manufacturers to consumers and the electorate-is the axiom of a "development(al) society." Organized to bridge familiar understandings of development with radical ways of thinking through developmentalism, this book holds value for those engaged in the anthropology and sociology of development, development studies, South Asian studies, as well as for development professionals working for state and non-governmental organizations.

This volume looks at the politics of communication and culture in contemporary South Asia. It explores languages, signs and symbols reflective of current mythologies that underpin instances of performance in present-day India and its neighbouring countries. From gender performances and stage depictions to protest movements, folk songs to cinematic reconstructions and elections to war-torn regions, the chapters in the book bring the multiple voices embedded within the grand theatre of popular performance and the cultural landscape of the region to the fore. Breaking new ground, this work will prove useful to students and researchers in sociology and social anthropology, art and performance studies, political studies and international relations, communication and media studies and culture studies.

This volume looks at the politics of communication and culture in contemporary South Asia. It explores languages, signs and symbols reflective of current mythologies that underpin instances of performance in present-day India and its neighbouring countries. From gender performances and stage depictions to protest movements, folk songs to cinematic reconstructions and elections to war-torn regions, the chapters in the book bring the multiple voices embedded within the grand theatre of popular performance and the cultural landscape of the region to the fore. Breaking new ground, this work will prove useful to students and researchers in sociology and social anthropology, art and performance studies, political studies and international relations, communication and media studies and culture studies.

Compiling various strands of the dis/enchantment with development discourse in contemporary South Asia, with specific focus on the cases from India, this edited book brings together anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and historians to refresh the understanding of development. It introduces ways of thinking "otherwise" about development discourse and what the contributors term "developmentalism"-the social enchantment with development. The cultural discourse of development in contemporary South Asia manifests not only in the official programs of state agencies, but in cinema, television, and mass media. Dear to various stakeholders-from government leaders and manufacturers to consumers and the electorate-is the axiom of a "development(al) society." Organized to bridge familiar understandings of development with radical ways of thinking through developmentalism, this book holds value for those engaged in the anthropology and sociology of development, development studies, South Asian studies, as well as for development professionals working for state and non-governmental organizations.

Against the Nation is an invitation to explore South Asia as a place and as an idea with a sense of refection and nuance rather than falling prey to the taken for granted and simplistic understanding of South Asia merely in geographic terms. To do so, the authors take the readers across a vast terrain of possibilities that deal with visual culture, music, film, knowledge systems and classrooms, myth and history as well as forms of politics that offer possibilities for understanding South Asia as a collective enterprise that has historical precedents as well as untapped ideological potential for the future. Further, the collection also attempts to look at how the idea of South Asia might be theorised. Though much of their thoughts are based on their own individual research interests, the authors' attempt in this present collection is to take the idea of South Asia as something that should surpass the boundaries of nation states from the limited academic circles in which it circulates at present to literally the `streets' of South Asia and the world. While the authors take the nation state for granted, they also consider its influence as a hindrance to realising a sensible notion of what South Asia could be.