By Neil Shearing

As the world fractures into rival blocs, many countries like India will resist becoming a part of this rivalry between the US and China, especially as they cannot determine its outcome (p. 60). However, it will be difficult for these countries to avoid picking a side and they will be forced by their economic, financial, cultural and political ties to align with one side or the other (p. 64). He argues that India is likely to align with the US, based on the fact that the US is India’s largest export market, invests much more in India than China


Reviewed by: Uma Purushothaman
Edited by Paula Banerjee

Since none of the South Asian states have signed the 1951 Convention, they never legally recognize having refugees. On the contrary, they have sought to deal with such challenges through numerous national legal frameworks. The patterns of national interest decide state responses. The European Union (EU) today is deeply divided on how to cope with the influx of people from West Asia, which is testing the principle of solidarity and making the Union look heartless and ineffective, pitting member states against each other, thereby infusing populism and anti-Islamic sentiments.


Reviewed by: Abidullah Baba
By Partha Chatterjee

The book is full of perceptive insights like the discussion of the different terms used in Indian languages for the terms ‘nation’ and ‘state’—desam and arasu in Tamil, jati and rashtra in Bengali, and the implications of that (p. 17); an analysis of the stability of India’s federal democracy if the ‘Hindu ethnic group’ (80% of the population) is mobilized, or alternatively, if the ‘Hindi ethnic group’ (slightly less than 40% of the population) is focused on as the largest linguistic group (p. 288). There is also a fascinating discussion on the difference between an understanding of the norm as the empirical average or as the normative.


Reviewed by: Shefali Jha
By Avinash Hingorani

As the book progresses, what does emerge from the analysis is the way in which the larger structure of the nation-state in both the US and India impinged adversely on the Dalits in India and Blacks in the US. This resulted in greater adverse encounters with the repressive apparatus of the state, leading to more frequent police detentions and prolonged incarceration. Blacks in the US and Dalits in India are thus more likely to be found serving prison sentences


Reviewed by: Amir Ali
Edited by Milinda Banerjee and Julian Strube

The paratexts also become an essential means of understanding the Mahabharata’s transnational connections. Christopher D Bahl and Abdallah Soufan read Wadi-al-Bustani’s introduction of his Arabic translation of the Mahabharata, ‘Understanding Global Intellectual Exchanges through Paratexts: Wadi-al-Bustani’s introduction of his Arabic translation of the Mahabharata’. Paratexts, such as an introduction, offer crucial insights into the text in the new language.


Reviewed by: Dhananjay Rai
By Manu Joseph

As a psychological curiosity, I wonder not just what makes the poor remain poor, or the forces of over-consumption in this capitalist living and what ‘deprivations’ is this really fulfilling but also would have appreciated an enquiry into what draws the rich to writings on the poor. Many books written, much research done—what is the impact of this work on the subjects? I understand better why the authors may want to write about these areas—these may come from lived experiences, as does in the case of Manu Joseph, along with the need to put out their anger, share experiences and ensure the experiences of the marginalized; not just remain on the margins.


Reviewed by: Surabhika Maheshwari