Reading the life narratives and literary texts of South Asians writing in and about East Africa, Gaurav Desai builds a surprising, alternative history of Africa's experience with slavery, migration, colonialism, nationalism, and globalization. Consulting Afrasian texts that are literary and nonfictional, political and private, he broadens the scope of African and South Asian scholarship and inspires a more nuanced understanding of the Indian Ocean's fertile routes of exchange. Desai shows how the Indian Ocean engendered a number of syncretic identities and shaped the medieval trade routes of the Islamicate empire, the early independence movements galvanized in part by Gandhi's southern African experiences, the invention of new ethnic nationalisms, and the rise of plural, multiethnic African nations. Calling attention to lives and literatures long neglected by traditional scholars, Desai introduces rich, interdisciplinary ways of thinking not only about this specific region but also about the very nature of ethnic history and identity. Traveling from the twelfth century to today, he concludes with a look at contemporary Asian populations in East Africa and their struggle to decide how best to participate in the development and modernization of their postcolonial nations without sacrificing their political autonomy.
Reading the life narratives and literary texts of South Asians writing in East Africa, Gaurav Desai builds a new history of Africa’s encounter with slavery, colonialism, migration, nationalism, development, and globalization. Rather than approach literature and culture from a nation-centered perspective, Desai connects the medieval trade routes of the Islamicate empire, the early independence movements galvanized in part by Gandhi’s southern African experiences, the invention of new ethnic nationalisms, and the rise of plural, multiethnic nations to the fertile exchange taking place across the Indian Ocean.
Subject to Colonialism provides a much needed revisionist perspective on the way twentieth-century Africa is viewed and analyzed among scholars. Employing literary, historical, and anthropological techniques, Gaurav Desai attempts to generate a new understanding of issues that permeate discussions of Africa by disrupting the centrality of postcolonial texts and focusing instead on the cultural and intellectual production of colonial Africans. In particular, Desai calls for a reevaluation of the “colonial library”—that set of representations and texts that have collectively “invented” Africa as a locus of difference and alterity. Presenting colonialism not as a singular, monolithic structure but rather as a practice frought with contradictions and tensions, Desai works to historicize the foundation of postcolonialism by decentering both canonical texts and privileged categories of analysis such as race, capitalism, empire, and nation. To achieve this, he focuses on texts that construct or reform—rather than merely reflect—colonialism, placing explicit emphasis on processes, performances, and the practices of everyday life. Reading these texts not merely for the content of their assertions but also for how they were created and received, Desai looks at works such as Jomo Kenyatta’s ethnography of the Gikuyu and Akiga Sai’s history of the Tiv and makes a particular plea for the canonical recuperation of African women’s writing. Scholars in African history, literature, and philosophy, postcolonial studies, literary criticism, and anthropology will welcome publication of this book.
This book examines India’s nuclear program, and it shows how secrecy inhibits learning in states and corrodes the capacity of decision-makers to generate optimal policy choices. Focusing on clandestine Indian nuclear proliferation during 1980–2010, the book argues that efficient decision-making is dependent on strongly established knowledge actors, high information turnover and the capacity of leaders to effectively monitor their agents. When secrecy concerns prevent states from institutionalizing these processes, leaders tend to rely more on heuristics and less on rational thought processes in choices involving matters of great political uncertainty and technical complexity. Conversely, decision-making improves as secrecy declines and policy choices become subject to higher levels of scrutiny and contestation. The arguments in this book draw on compelling evidence gathered from interviews conducted by the author, with interviewees including individuals who were involved in nuclear planning in India from 1980 to 2010, such as former cabinet and defence secretaries, the principal secretary to the prime minister, national security advisors, secretaries to the department of atomic energy, military chiefs of staff and their principal staff officers, and commanders of India’s strategic (nuclear) forces. This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, Asian politics, strategic studies and International Relations.
By raising a conceptual debate on ‘New Social Movements’, Pathania examines contemporary student resistance and analyses protest methods, strategies, networks, and the role of various caste, sub-caste groups, and civil society organizations in the struggle for social justice to envision a new cultural politics. The volume also discusses student activism in the aftermath of the suicide of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula at University of Hyderabad and the Azadi (Freedom) campaign at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The University as a Site of Resistance scrutinizes the debate on nationalism and processes of democratization of institutional spaces.
Vidarbha – a major cotton growing region in central India has been the epicentre of a protracted agrarian crisis. Chronic indebtedness and farmers' suicides continue unabated despite decades of state intervention. Going beyond the contemporary discourse that finds fault in neoliberal policies and integration with global markets, this fascinating book tells the story of how nineteenth century 'accidents' particularly in the form of colonial policies and the American Civil War ushered in institutional transformations that shaped the region's cotton economy. By drawing insights from their longitudinal study in villages of the region spanning 12 years, Gaurav and Ranganathan present the 'gambles' that farmers are part of. The novelty of combining a long view of history and evidence based on primary field research results in a book that underscores the importance of investigating roots of agrarian crisis and paying attention to adjustments of farm households, at a crucial juncture in India's economic transformation.
This book represents a detailed introduction to the geology, structure, and stratigraphy of Kutch Basin, known for its rich fossilized megafauna and the wide range of condensed sections exposing Bathonian to Pleistocene. With its vast assortment of geological features, geomorphology, and geoheritage, the Kutch Basin shows geology, stratigraphy, and paleontology almost as a textbook. Besides the beautiful illustrations given in the book, in the form of good field photographs depicting the landscape, and geological and geomorphological features, this guidebook serves as an inspiring reading reference. Furthermore, this guidebook will be a handy reference book for the tourists visiting Kutch Basin in planning their visit to explore the beautiful Kutch region. The guidebook is intended to interest scientists, researchers, students from schools and universities, tourists, and geoscience professionals of the mining and oil industry working in Kutch.
Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, Glasgow Caledonian University, language: English, abstract: This paper investigates the influence of national culture on the aspect of leadership in business management in business organisations in India. The current level of globalisation is very high in the existing business scenario, due to which interactions between people from different nations and from different cultural backgrounds for business purposes is happening at a high rate. People from different nations carry the cultural perceptions and beliefs of that nation and construe different meanings to the same situation. Thus the understanding of the cultural norms & practices of different nations can be helpful in understanding why a person behaves in a given situation. Also, the development of the skill of cultural intelligence can be a valuable asset and those managers which posses this skill can be more successful and obtain better results in business dealings. The cultural variables as propounded by the seminal author Hofstede, namely power distance, individualism & collectivism, masculinity & feminity, and uncertainty avoidance, were used in this research. As per the previously done research by the seminal author Hofstede, India was ranked high in the power distance index, moderate in the individualism index, moderate in the masculinity index, and low in the uncertainty avoidance index. The findings have indicated the power distance in India is lower than what has been previously found out. Also, the cultural variable of masculinity & feminity has been found to be leaning more towards feminity rather than masculinity which is again opposed to the results as previously propounded. The findings have corroborated with the results as obtained by previous research regarding the cultural variables of individualism & collectivism and uncertainty avoidance, that individualism & collectivism is moderate and uncertainty avoidance is low in India. The findings have led to the conclusions that, currently in India, the leaders in business organisations cannot impose themselves on the subordinates and expect unquestioning obedience. The leaders have to be understanding and have to view the subordinates as a valuable part of the management team in a business organisation. Also the findings have indicated that the personnel in leadership positions in business organisations in India, are coming in contact with people of different nations, and not all, but some of the business organisations are providing training on cultural awareness & intelligence to its personnel.
Migrant Form examines the works of James Joyce, Salman Rushdie, and Satyajit Ray for the anti-colonial arguments in their unsettled, and unsettling, aesthetics. Among the questions it engages are the following: What are the aesthetic moves through which art expresses its resistance to dominance and demands for conformity? How can we define anti-colonial aesthetics? How do these aesthetics manifest themselves in different media such as literature and film? Contending that Joyce inaugurates an anti-colonial «aesthetics of reconstitution», the book mines such aesthetics in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake to propose a formal model for postcolonialism. It also draws on that exercise to consider how Rushdie extends a play with reconfigured forms into an overt politics in two of his novels (Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses). Turning its attention to film, the book contests the common view of Ray as a gentle realist and examines a formal restlessness in Ray's earlier work, Charulata (The Lonely Wife), before demonstrating how Ray stages his preference for restlessness in his final film, Agantuk (The Stranger).
The Pilani Pioneers profiles twenty-five accomplished BITS Pilani graduates, including startup founders, entrepreneurs and CEOs, who have made an indelible mark on the Indian and global business landscape while deftly navigating the twists and turns of their professional and personal lives. It introduces us to mavericks such as Baba Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge; Hari Menon, Co-founder and CEO of BigBasket; Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian at Tata Sons; Sunil Duggal, Dabur's longest-serving CEO; Tulsi Mirchandaney, MD of Blue Dart Aviation; Nandini Chopra, MD at Alvarez & Marsal; Phanindra Sama, Co-founder of redBus; among others, whose stories of passion and perseverance reveal what it takes to not only achieve success in the competitive arena of business but also make a positive difference in both industry and the world at large. Inspiring, with a touch of nostalgia, this book is an essential read for anyone looking to find their niche and build a meaningful professional life.
This book presents a comprehensive survey of the Indian Economy in terms of GDP growth, savings, investment and developments in various sectors such as agriculture, industry and services. A contradiction observed in India is that while the reform process has resulted in boosting GDP growth, it has failed to yield acceleration in the process of poverty reduction and growth of employment.
This book is based on the field studies and research surveys of one of the most degraded habitats and birds' wildlife sanctuary of the state of Haryana. This book will serve the purpose of awareness generation among society as well as students of Life Sciences and other disciplines and will initiate a feeling of conservation and management of avian fauna at the grass-root level with knowledge of identification of birds' species. This document will help in birds' species identification in the field. It will help to implement comprehensive conservation measures for this area as a potential habitat for avian diversity in the state of Haryana.
: Agriculture, as a backdrop in India's economy, is critical because to its substantial percentage of job and livelihood generation. In India, agriculture's contribution to GDP is dropping while the number of people involved in agriculture and related activities remains high, creating worries about both land and labour productivity. Throughout history, technological innovations have had a significant impact on agriculture. So far, technological development in Indian agriculture has remained an unfinished undertaking. The influence of new technology varies according on crop and locale. Clearly, the progress made thus far has been limited and symbolic, and much more has to be done to appropriately promote and spread it. A necessary first step in this direction would be to examine the emerging trends and technologies in agricultural advancement, which is precisely the objective of this inquiry. The book provides an interesting narrative of technological advancement in agriculture by analyzing in depth technological method used. Also it gives all the details from emerging technology in advancement of Indian agriculture such as breeding methods and seed farming technologies in agricultural crops, plant cell and tissue culture techniques in crop improvement, remote sensing in agriculture, effects of genetically modified (GM) crops on modern agriculture, nano technology in agriculture, precision farming, emerging technologies for integrated pest management, pioneer methods of fruit production in modern horticulture, modern era remote sensing and GIS in horticulture sector: opportunities and challenges and impact of economic factors on nutritional diet. This book would certainly assume greater significance in creating database for realistic planning and implementation of future technological advancement in agriculture and would help in adding to existing store-house of knowledge concerning latest technology in agriculture and related issues. It would also guide readers in deriving insight in understanding many aspects relevant particularly to technological advancement in Indian agriculture.
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