A thrilling account of the emergence of the game of cricket within colonial India. Guha seeks to understand how this very "English" game came to captuA thrilling account of the emergence of the game of cricket within colonial India. Guha seeks to understand how this very "English" game came to capture the Indian imagination. This is social history of a superb kind....more
Dirks sets forth the idea of "the ethnographic state" and alters the more conventional understanding of the caste system as an age-old tradition that Dirks sets forth the idea of "the ethnographic state" and alters the more conventional understanding of the caste system as an age-old tradition that haunted Indian society. Dirks highlights the varied ways in which the colonial state made rigid the fluid boundaries of caste through their need to categorise, tabulate, and catalogue the Indian population....more
A National Book Award finalist and deserving of all the accolades it's received. Demick was a Los Angeles Times reporter assigned to the Seoul bureau A National Book Award finalist and deserving of all the accolades it's received. Demick was a Los Angeles Times reporter assigned to the Seoul bureau who spent most of her time interviewing a wide variety of North Korean defectors about their lives in the country, and how/why they left. If Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aids, and Reform is the macro-level view of post-Cold War North Korean society, this is the micro-level view. Haggard and Noland will tell you decreasing fertilizer imports that killed North Korean agriculture: Demick will tell you about the hungry kid who lined up multiple times to "mourn" Kim il-Sung because the authorities were handing out free rice balls to mourners....more
Another statistical study collected among North Korean refugees in both northeastern China and in South Korea. It examines refugees' various reasons fAnother statistical study collected among North Korean refugees in both northeastern China and in South Korea. It examines refugees' various reasons for defecting, the ebb and flow in the ease of leaving the country, China's efforts both to repatriate North Koreans and to classify them as "economic refugees" to avoid international legal trouble, and refugees' fate once safely in South Korea. A very troubling read, insofar as the authors admit that the number of problems that South Korea has trying to integrate the relatively small population of North Koreans right now is a sign of much worse things to come should the Kim regime ever collapse....more
A statistical study written by the editor of the Journal of East Asian Studies and economist respectively of how and when the North Korean famine starA statistical study written by the editor of the Journal of East Asian Studies and economist respectively of how and when the North Korean famine started, its effect on the country's population, and the impact of the private markets that sprang up after the collapse of the country's Public Distribution System. A very interesting comparative read to the accounts given in Barbara Demick and Bradley Martin's books; Haggard and Noland argue that the famine's origins lie in 1988 with the impending collapse of the Soviet Union (and thus North Korea's source of cheap fertilizer, oil, and gas). North Korean defectors in Demick and Martin's accounts all tend to say that was when the Public Distribution System began shortchanging their families....more
Lankov saw the last of the "Soviet years" in North Korea as an exchange student, and is one of the very rare people to lend the Russian perspective onLankov saw the last of the "Soviet years" in North Korea as an exchange student, and is one of the very rare people to lend the Russian perspective on NK in the Western press. The book is a collection of articles that were initially published for the Korea Times. Topics range from matters as large as Soviet-North Korean relations to things as small as the Kim il-Sung pins that the population must wear....more
the first Western social scientists to collect data from the People's Republic of China, focusing on rural Hebei province, south of Beijing. Starting the first Western social scientists to collect data from the People's Republic of China, focusing on rural Hebei province, south of Beijing. Starting at the "honeymoon period" after the Communists took power, the authors focus their criticism on how Party edicts led to stagnation and immiseration for the villages, creating essentially a neo-feudal order....more
This is a beautiful book that traces the life and growth of a village in Southeast China through the entirety of the communist revolution until 2009. This is a beautiful book that traces the life and growth of a village in Southeast China through the entirety of the communist revolution until 2009. Its ambition is incredible, and its execution satisfies its aims. It is effectively an anthropological ethnography written by historians, and the work reflects some of the best of both disciplines. Rarely have I felt as connected to historical characters as I have in learning of the exploits of low-level, unimportant peasant officials in Chen Village. This book communicates the trends in political and social change in China in the last 60 years in a way that is hard to replicate from pure analysis....more
Fairly straightforward. Not just China but basically every major Asian conflict. It is a behemoth of information that has been collected from far and Fairly straightforward. Not just China but basically every major Asian conflict. It is a behemoth of information that has been collected from far and wide for the reader's convenience. It covers history, provides detailed and cited statistics, and gives insight to culture, art, social chances and upheavals, family and even romantic impact from living during all these wars. An excellent reference....more
Ngai's was one of the first books to really tackle the history of Asian, Mexican, and other immigrants who came to America illegally. An instant classNgai's was one of the first books to really tackle the history of Asian, Mexican, and other immigrants who came to America illegally. An instant classic....more
This is is a representation of the perfect way in which to work with tribes to do Anthropology and History. He uses old stories and modern stories tolThis is is a representation of the perfect way in which to work with tribes to do Anthropology and History. He uses old stories and modern stories told by living Coeur d'Alene people to contextualize everything he writes. He involves the Coeur d'Alene people without losing his focus or professionalism....more
This book went a long way in shifting the focus of Anthropology and History away from Indians as objects and victims towards Indians as active particiThis book went a long way in shifting the focus of Anthropology and History away from Indians as objects and victims towards Indians as active participants. Written in 1969, I make sure students read this before they are allowed to talk about Native History. ...more
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