Books in the Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series series

India and Turkey, Asia Minor and the Subcontinent of Hindustan, and the Ottomans and Mughals have had shared histories of contact, engagement, and dialogue over the centuries. Using the inter-cultural dialogue signaled by such contacts as a starting point, this book builds on the historical connectivity between India and Turkey.

The book discusses the role of popular Islam in structuring individual and collective identities in contemporary South Asia. It identifies similarities and differences between the worship of saints and the pattern of religious attendance to tombs and mausoleums in South Asian Sufism and Shi`ism. This geographical re-mapping of Muslim religious gatherings in contemporary South Asia contributes to a new understanding of South Asian and Islamic Studies.

This book presents detailed case studies of lived religion in the Himalaya to offer intra-regional perspectives on the ways in which lived religions are being re-configured or re-imagined in modernity. Presenting new research and perspectives on the Himalayan region, this book should be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian Studies, Religious Studies, and Modernity.

This book traces and analyses the evolution of Indian development cooperation. It highlights its significance both to global development and as an effective tool of Indian foreign policy. Focussing on how India has played an important role in supporting development efforts of partner countries in South Asia and beyond through its various initiatives in the realm of development cooperation, the book tracks the evolution, genesis, and the challenges India faces in the current international context.

This book offers comparative, historicist, and multidisciplinary views on the role of identity politics in the development of Pakistan. Bringing together perspectives on the dynamics of state-building, the book provides insights into contemporary processes of national contestation, and highlights how ethnicity and identity politics are an enduring marker in Pakistani politics, and why they are increasingly powerful and influential. This book on Pakistan will be a useful contribution to South Asian Politics, South Asian History, and Islamic Studies.

This book presents an examination of fictional representations, in books and films, of the 1947 Partition that led to the creation of the sovereign nation-states of India and Pakistan. It provides critical readings of literary and cinematic texts on the impact of the Partition both in the Punjab and in Bengal. The collection assembles studies on Anglophone writings with those on the largely unexplored vernacular works, and those which have rarely found a place in discussions on the Partition. Collectively, the essays present a nuanced understanding of how the experience of violence, displacement, and trauma shaped postcolonial societies and subjectivities in the Indian subcontinent.

This book advances knowledge on the global debate on the migration-development relationship by documenting experiences in a number of countries in South Asia. It discusses the impact of migration on the social, economic, and political fields in the broader context of development and analyses the role South Asian migrants and diaspora communities play in the South Asian society. Contributions from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, including sociology, anthropology, political science, international relations and economics, document the development implications of South Asian migration.

Recognising the different ways that capitalism is theorised, this book explores various aspects of contemporary capitalism in India. It raises questions about the varieties and levels of capitalism, and about the different roles played by the state. Using field research at a local level to engage with larger issues, the book presents a comprehensive analysis of 21st century Indian capitalism. It is distinctive in its use of an interdisciplinary political economy approach and brings together scholars who have engaged with classical political economy to advance the understanding of contemporary capitalism in South Asia.

Post-9/11 Espionage Fiction in the US and Pakistan examines post-9/11 American spy fictions alongside Pakistani novels that draw upon many of the same figures, tropes, and conventions. As the Pakistani texts re-place spy fiction¿s conventions, they offer another vantage point from which to view the affective appeals common to these conventions¿ usual deployment in American texts. This book argues that the appropriation by Pakistani writers of these conventions insistently tracks how the formulaic and popular nature of post-9/11 American espionage thrillers forwards and reinforces "appropriate" affective responses, often linked to domestic sites and relations, to "terrorism."

Literary, cinematic and media representations of the disputed category of the `South Asian Muslim¿ have undergone substantial change in the last few decades and in particular since the events of September 11, 2001. Here we find the first book-length critical analysis of these representations of Muslims from South Asia and its diaspora in literature, the media, culture and cinema. The collected essays highlight the significant role that literature, film,and music can play in opening up space for complex reflections on Muslim identities and cultures, and how such imaginative cultural forms can enable us to rethink secularism and religion.

With a focus on Sri Lanka, this book explores the political economy of ethnic conflict, and examines how rival political leaders are able to convince their ethnic group members to follow them into violent conflict. Specifically, it looks at how political leaders can influence and utilize changes in the level of economic liberalization in order to mobilize members of a certain ethnic group, and in the case of Sri Lanka, shows how ethnic mobilization drives can turn violent when minority ethnic groups are economically marginalized by the decisions that the majority ethnic group leaders make in order to stay in power.

Revisiting the study of South Asians in Britain and beyond, this book looks at the concept of diaspora by probing the ways in which the South Asian diaspora could be re-conceptualised as comprising communities whose identity, on both individual and collective levels, is grounded in a sense of rooted and connected locations that do not necessarily privilege the homeland.

State re-scaling is the central concept mobilized in this book to interpret the political processes that are producing new economic spaces in India. In the quarter century since economic reforms were introduced, the Indian economy has experienced strong growth accompanied by extensive sectoral and spatial restructuring. This book argues that in this reformed institutional context, where both state spaces and economic geographies are being rescaled, subnational states play an increasingly critical role in coordinating socioeconomic activities.

Bengal has long been one of the key centres of civilisation and culture in the Indian subcontinent. However, Bengal identity ¿ "Bengaliness" ¿ is complicated by the fact that Bengal is now divided between India and Bangladesh, and by the fact that there is a very large international diaspora from both parts of Bengal. This book explores a wide range of issues connected with Bengali identity. Amongst other subjects, it considers the special problems arising as a result of the division of Bengal, and concludes by demonstrating that there are many factors which make for a single Bengal identity.

This book explores the role of individual, interactional, contextual, and cultural factors in predicting marital satisfaction in individuals who were in arranged marriages and living in India. The discussion is drawn from a survey collecting data from individuals married through the arranged marriage system in India. In light of this empirical study, the book considers the cross-cultural applicability of Western findings and proposes some key methodological and clinical considerations for examining marital relationships in Indian arranged marriages.

The Himalaya, which is a great natural frontier for India, symbolises India's spiritual and national consciousness. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of historical, geo-political and strategic perspectives on the Himalayan Frontiers of India. It explains the developments in and across the Himalayas and their implications for India.

Explores the impact of neoliberal globalization on labour markets and the state in the developed and developing world. This book focuses especially on the United States and the economies of Asia - in particular, India.

Cover the popular cinema of North India ("Bollywood") and how it recasts literary classics. This work addresses the socio-political implications of popular reinterpretations of "elite culture", exploring gender issues and the perceived "sexism" of the North Indian popular film and how that plays out when literature is reworked into film.

The field of Bollywood studies has remained predominantly critical, theoretical and historical in focus. This book brings together qualitative and quantitative approaches to tackle empirical questions focusing on the relationship between soft power, hybridity, cinematic texts, and audiences.

Ethnic and nationalist movements surged forward in Nepal after the restoration of democracy in 1990, surprising observers who believed that ethnic harmony prevailed in the country. This book analyses the rise in ethnic mobilization, the dynamics and trajectories of these movements, and their consequences for Nepal.

Hailed as the beneficiary, driving force and result of globalisation, Indiäs middle-class is puzzling in its diversity, as a multitude of traditions, social formations and political constellations manifest contribute to this project. This book looks at Indian middle-class lifestyles through a number of case studies, ranging from a historical account detailing the making of a savvy middle-class consumer in the late colonial period, to saving clubs among women in Delhi¿s upmarket colonies and the dilemmas of entrepreneurial families in Tamil Nadu¿s industrial towns.

The South Asian security complex refers to security interdependencies between the states in the region, and also includes the effect that powerful external actors, such as China, the US and Russia, and geopolitical interests have on regional dynamics. This book focuses on the national securities of a number of South Asian countries in order to discuss a range of issues related to South Asian security.

Compulsory land acquisition and involuntary displacement of communities for a larger public purpose captures the tension of development in the modern state, with the need to balance the interests of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority.This book examines a number of new policy formulations put in place at both the central and state levels looking at land acquisition procedures and norms for rehabilitation and resettlement of communities.

This volume explores various new forms, objects and modes of circulation that sustain this renovated form of Orientalism in South Asian culture. The contributors identify and engage with pressing recent debates about postcolonial South Asian identity politics, discussing a range of different texts and films such as The White Tiger, Bride & Prejudice and Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love.

Analyses the relationship between cinema and modernity in Bangladesh. This book investigates the roles of a non-western 'national' film industry in Asia in constructing nationhood and identity within colonial and postcolonial predicaments, and analyses the political, economic and cultural forces that have been active in shaping Bangladesh cinema.

Since the 1990s, the Indigenous movement worldwide has become increasingly relevant to research in India, re-shaping the terms of engagement with Adivasi (Indigenous/tribal) peoples and their pasts. This book responds to the growing need for an inter-disciplinary re-assessment of Tribal studies in postcolonial India and defines a new agenda for Adivasi studies. It considers the existing conceptual and historical parameters of Tribal studies, as a means of addressing new approaches to histories of de-colonization and patterns of identity-formation that have become visible since national independence.

Explores the aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lanka, where coastal communities that are significantly different in terms of social structure, economy, language, religion, kinship, and cultural identity were affected. This book analyses regional and ethnic patterns of post-tsunami reconstruction according to different sectors of Sri Lankan society.