The Oxford India Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology (2 volumes)
Edited by Veena Das
OUP, New Delhi, 2003
pp xvi, viii+1660, INR 3750
ISBN 0 19564582 0
In what is probably the most comprehensive compilation of essays on South Asian social sciences, the Oxford India Companion brings together the work of 62 leading scholars on topics ranging from conceptual frameworks to agrarian practice. Edited by Veena Das, professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, USA, the handsome two-volume set is divided into nine sections on social ecology, social morphology, culture, family and kinship, religion, economy, education and politics. In presenting this work, writes Das in the introduction, "I hope for reflection on the processes through which forms of knowledge about Indian society and culture have been generated, as well as the institutional mechanisms for the consolidation of concerns in social science research in the country".
The nature of underdevelopment and regional structure in Nepal: A Marxist analysis
by Baburam Bhattarai
Adroit, New Delhi, 2003
pp xx+540, INR 600
ISBN 81 87392 39 8
Baburam Bhattarai, architect, student of development, and ideologue of Nepal's Maoist movement, is leader of the five-member Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) negotiating team currently in talks with the Nepali government. This work, material from his mid-1980s doctoral thesis, with an updated preface by Bhattarai and foreword by CPN (M) chairman, Prachanda, presents "an historico-materialist interpretation of the Nepalese society so that it may help to change it for the better" (emphasis in original). With many endnotes, charts, diagrams and maps, this work is a Marxist perspective on the history and political economy of Nepal and presents the guiding thoughts of the Nepali Maoists' leading ideologue.