Mental Distress and Embodied Inequality in the Western Himalayas
In Tension, Nikita Kaur Simpson examines the effects of rapid development in the Himalayas on the minds and bodies of the Gaddi people who inhabit them through attention to the multifaceted state of distress they call "tension." This "tension" takes many forms: Kamzori, or weakness, in the bodies of elderly women; "Future tension" accumulating in ......
Centering his analysis in the dynamic forces of modern East Asian history, Kuan-Hsing Chen recasts cultural studies as a politically urgent global endeavor. He argues that the intellectual and subjective work of decolonization begun across East Asia after the Second World War was stalled by the cold war. At the same time, the work of ......
Textiles, Tradition, and Sustainability in Contemporary Japan
In Dyeing with the Earth, Charlotte Linton explores the intersection of small-scale traditional craft production with contemporary sustainability practices. Focusing on natural textile dyeing on the southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima, Linton details the complex relationship between preservation practices, resource extraction, and land access ......
Sacred Mountains and the Search for Meaning in Post-Disaster Japan
In this compelling narrative of discovery set in Japan's remote Dewa Sanzan mountain range, Shayne A. P. Dahl describes Shugendo, a secretive religious tradition that combines aspects of Shinto, Buddhism, and mountain worship. As a participant-observer, Dahl invites readers into the practices of contemporary ascetics who see the sacred mountains ......
Presents a systematic critique of Edward Saids work "Orientalism". This book looks at the destructive influence of Saids study on the history of Western painting, especially of the 19th century, and shows how the epigones of Said have succeeded in relegating thousands of first-class paintings to the lofts and storage rooms of major museums.
Ocean, as Much as Rain presents for the first time in the English-language world a collection of masterfully translated literary writings by prominent Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser. In these stories, lyrical essays, and poetry, Woeser interweaves texts, photographs, silences, and documentary details. Featuring a distinctively imaginative use of ......
This book tells the story of Walmart's expansion in China, making the case that it is the story of a major shift in the structure of global capitalism. Walmart, argues Eileen Otis, is a leading actor in the rise of merchant capitalism, wherein the role of the merchant has changed from operating at the whim of industrialists, to leveraging control ......
In The Goddess in the Mirror, Tulasi Srinivas offers a pathbreaking ethnography of contemporary Indian beauty parlors in Bangalore. Exploring the gendered world of beauty in the intimate spaces of the salon, whose popularity has exploded amid an urban tech revolution, Srinivas invites us to consider what beauty is and what it does. Visiting ......
Textiles, Tradition, and Sustainability in Contemporary Japan
In Dyeing with the Earth, Charlotte Linton explores the intersection of small-scale traditional craft production with contemporary sustainability practices. Focusing on natural textile dyeing on the southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima, Linton details the complex relationship between preservation practices, resource extraction, and land access ......
