RETHINKING 1857
Edited by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya
Published by Orient Longman
This is one among the interesting collections of essays brought out in the 150th anniversary of 1857.
Basudev Chattopadhyay describes the situation of general panic in Calcutta and how the British went about disarming Indians; N. Rajendran that not all was quiet in the Madras Presidency either; and David R. Siemlieh that despite little popular support, disaffection was expressed by the Ahom princes and the princes of Manipur and in the Barak valley. Two essays deal with the differential access of rebels and the British to technology and means of communication and the extent to which these affected the outcome.
The book certainly contributes to our understanding of 1857...
Nalini Taneja
THE HINDU, 11 March 2008
Review of Baby Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke
The Prisons We Broke: The Autobiography of a Community
Baby Kamble
Published by Orient Longman
The Prisons We Broke is the first autobiography of a Dalit woman in Marathi. Jina Amucha, the original in Marathi, was serialised in 1982 and published as a book in 1986.
What Ambedkar’s teachings meant to this oppressed group of people shunned by society is what comes through in this work, as Baby records her own involvement with the Dalit movement. An interesting read, The Prisons We Broke humanises the Dalit movement in India.
Priya M Menon
THE NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS
Janhavi Acharekar
THE HINDU, 2 March 2008
Baby Kamble
Published by Orient Longman
The Prisons We Broke is the first autobiography of a Dalit woman in Marathi. Jina Amucha, the original in Marathi, was serialised in 1982 and published as a book in 1986.
What Ambedkar’s teachings meant to this oppressed group of people shunned by society is what comes through in this work, as Baby records her own involvement with the Dalit movement. An interesting read, The Prisons We Broke humanises the Dalit movement in India.
Priya M Menon
THE NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS
Janhavi Acharekar
THE HINDU, 2 March 2008
Liberation narrative
The Prisons We Broke: The Autobiography of a Community
Baby Kamble
Published by Orient Longman
The Prisons We Broke is significant because it traces the evolution of the Mahar community from pre-Ambedkar days to its rapid transformation through education and mass conversion.
Dalit literature, historically, has been writing of protest and part of a larger social movement. While Baby Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke continues the tradition, it is also an important life narrative whose original title Jina Amucha (Our Existence) communicates simply an urge to share the trials, tribulations and triumphs of an extraordinary people.
Janhavi Acharekar
THE HINDU, 2 March 2008
Baby Kamble
Published by Orient Longman
The Prisons We Broke is significant because it traces the evolution of the Mahar community from pre-Ambedkar days to its rapid transformation through education and mass conversion.
Dalit literature, historically, has been writing of protest and part of a larger social movement. While Baby Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke continues the tradition, it is also an important life narrative whose original title Jina Amucha (Our Existence) communicates simply an urge to share the trials, tribulations and triumphs of an extraordinary people.
Janhavi Acharekar
THE HINDU, 2 March 2008
The idea of the Tribal
A Nomad Called Thief: Reflections on Adivasi Silence
G. N. Devy
Published by Orient Longman
The volume under review is a collection of short pieces previously published by the author in a number of dailies and periodicals—many of which have been revised and expanded for inclusion in the book. The main theme of these short and extremely perceptive narratives is the marginalization of adivasis in India, with a focus on various erroneous constructions of the idea of the tribal.
The book is a fascinating narrative of a surprisingly wide canvas of issues related to the adivasis. It does not aspire to serve a larger purpose except documenting the author’s concerns about a host of issues—from environment to livelihood, from development to cultural processes and from violence to knowledge systems. In the process, Devy successfully manages to provide a voice to some of these issues which the adivasis grapple with on a daily basis.
Amit Prakash
THE BOOK REVIEW, January 2008
G. N. Devy
Published by Orient Longman
The volume under review is a collection of short pieces previously published by the author in a number of dailies and periodicals—many of which have been revised and expanded for inclusion in the book. The main theme of these short and extremely perceptive narratives is the marginalization of adivasis in India, with a focus on various erroneous constructions of the idea of the tribal.
The book is a fascinating narrative of a surprisingly wide canvas of issues related to the adivasis. It does not aspire to serve a larger purpose except documenting the author’s concerns about a host of issues—from environment to livelihood, from development to cultural processes and from violence to knowledge systems. In the process, Devy successfully manages to provide a voice to some of these issues which the adivasis grapple with on a daily basis.
Amit Prakash
THE BOOK REVIEW, January 2008
Amazing grace
Peculiar People, Amazing Lives: Leprosy, Social Exclusion and Community Making in South India
James Staples
Published by Orient Longman
Peculiar People, Amazing Lives is a study of a community of leprosy sufferers in ‘colony’ in Andhra Pradesh. What unites them into a community is not just their disease, but also their social exclusion, they are outcastes from even the outcastes. But ironically as a Christian community, they exclude others too, non-Christian. The author carried out intensive field work not only in the ‘colony’ but also in Mumbai, where many of them earn their livelihood as beggars.
The book is rich in texture, a pleasure to read, with an impressive reading of the literature. It would be useful for students of anthropology in general and medical anthropology in particular.
Mohan Rao
THE BOOK REVIEW, January 2008
James Staples
Published by Orient Longman
Peculiar People, Amazing Lives is a study of a community of leprosy sufferers in ‘colony’ in Andhra Pradesh. What unites them into a community is not just their disease, but also their social exclusion, they are outcastes from even the outcastes. But ironically as a Christian community, they exclude others too, non-Christian. The author carried out intensive field work not only in the ‘colony’ but also in Mumbai, where many of them earn their livelihood as beggars.
The book is rich in texture, a pleasure to read, with an impressive reading of the literature. It would be useful for students of anthropology in general and medical anthropology in particular.
Mohan Rao
THE BOOK REVIEW, January 2008
New Arrivals May 2008
Political Theologies — Public Religions in a Post-secular World: Hend de Vries, Lawrence E Sullivan — Editor; Social Science Press, 69 Jor Bagh, New Delhi and Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd., 1/24 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 795. Globalization and the Millennium Development Goals — Negotiating the Challenge: Manmohan Agarwal, Amit Shovon Roy; Social Science Press, 69 Jor Bagh, New Delhi-110003. Rs. 675. India’s New Capitalists — Caste, Business and Industry in a Modern Nation: Harish Damodaran; Permanent Black, Himalayana, Mall Road, Ranikhet Cantt, Ranikhet-263645.
Magical Stories, The Hindu, 22 April 2008
PAROMITA PAIN
Eight tales – some old, some new-but all fascinating.
Do you remember the story of the elves and the shoemaker? Haven’t you often wished some genie would spring up and do your homework and all you had to do was to set your books out neatly? Wishful thinking aside it is stories like these that make childhood magical. If you want your younger siblings to enjoy them and make the session a time where they can learn to read for themselves too then ask for the Storytellers set of books. The package has four books, each one a different story, retold by BookBox, with clever pictures and a VCD. The VCD has animations with subtitles that get highlighted with the words spoken on screen to help learn words faster.
And not just old fairy tales. Newer stories like “Tucket the Bucket” are welcome additions. Written by Kuzhali Manickavel, “Tucket the Bucket” is a delightful story of the saddest bucket in the world. Once a garden favourite a hole saw him lose his place of favour. Now how would you feel if you went from being the teacher’s pet to the class dunce? Well Tucket felt a bit like that and worse perhaps. Is Tucket doomed to rust in sorrow? Read on or listen to find out!
Have you ever said boo to a ghost before? Now you never will for after reading Manikavels “The Boo in the shoe” Puzzle the purple Boo and you will soon be friends.
Available in two sets with each one containing a set of five books and a VCD each, these are exciting books to add to your collection.
STORYTELLERS 1 AND 2, Orient Longman Publications, Rs 295
Eight tales – some old, some new-but all fascinating.
Do you remember the story of the elves and the shoemaker? Haven’t you often wished some genie would spring up and do your homework and all you had to do was to set your books out neatly? Wishful thinking aside it is stories like these that make childhood magical. If you want your younger siblings to enjoy them and make the session a time where they can learn to read for themselves too then ask for the Storytellers set of books. The package has four books, each one a different story, retold by BookBox, with clever pictures and a VCD. The VCD has animations with subtitles that get highlighted with the words spoken on screen to help learn words faster.
And not just old fairy tales. Newer stories like “Tucket the Bucket” are welcome additions. Written by Kuzhali Manickavel, “Tucket the Bucket” is a delightful story of the saddest bucket in the world. Once a garden favourite a hole saw him lose his place of favour. Now how would you feel if you went from being the teacher’s pet to the class dunce? Well Tucket felt a bit like that and worse perhaps. Is Tucket doomed to rust in sorrow? Read on or listen to find out!
Have you ever said boo to a ghost before? Now you never will for after reading Manikavels “The Boo in the shoe” Puzzle the purple Boo and you will soon be friends.
Available in two sets with each one containing a set of five books and a VCD each, these are exciting books to add to your collection.
STORYTELLERS 1 AND 2, Orient Longman Publications, Rs 295
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
