Asiatica Association

On December 31, 2009 has been published a thick issue of Limes, the international magazine of geopolitics directed by Lucio Caracciolo, wholly dedicated to India. 

Enrica Garzilli has published a paper titled Gandhi Dynasty, which can be read here.

Editorial by Lucio Caracciolo (titled The good giant); papers by Francesca Marino, Enrica Garzilli, Beniamino Natale, Marco Restelli, Raimondo Bultrini, Meghnad Desai, K. P. S. Gill, Ajai Sahni, Kanchan Lakshman, Daniela Bezzi, Bhikhu Parekh, Chitvan Gill, Luca Muscarà, S. D. Muni, Paola Tavella, Alberto Bracci Testasecca, Parag Khanna, P. R. Chari, Ezio Ferrante, Vijay Prashad, Nirupama Subramanian e Pervez Hoodbhoy, Ayesha Siddiqa e B. Raman, Praveen Swami, John C. Hulsman, Matteo Tacconi, Marco Ansaldo, Raymond Barre. Here  the summary of papers.

Posts and short analysis on Indian phenomena, such as the history of the Naxalites by Marino, can be read here.

Enjoy!

The Power of Tantra. Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies, by Hugh B. Urban, paperback, London, I. B. Tauris, 2009, pp. XI+250.

The book is scholarly treatment of Tantra traditions in South Asia, based on reasearch made by the author between 2000 and 2008 in Assam, Bengal, Orissa, Tripura, and Meghalaya. It is notheworthy the complete absence of the Italian scholarship on Tantrism, which started with the famous scholar Giuseppe Tucci and is still well represented.

The book by Ropharat Aphijanyatham Perceptions of Borders and Human  Migration: The Human (In)Security of Shan Migrant Workers in Thailand (Irasec – Observatoire - Occasional Paper n°1, September 2009, 84 pp), is freely available from the IRASEC, the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia, and the Observatoire des Trafics Illegaux Transfontaliers dans la Sous-region du Mekong.

Deep Rivers: Selected Writings on Tamil Literature, by François Gros. Translated from French by M. P. Boseman. Edited by Kannan M., Jennifer Clare, IFP / Tamil Chair, DSSEAS, University of California (Berkeley), IFP - Publications Hors série n° 9, 2009, xxxviii, 519 p.  Language: English. Price: 800 Rs (35 €) ISBN: 978-81-8470-172-2.

The book is undoubtedly excellent, like most books published by the French Institute of Pondicherry, but I note that the price of Indian publications is almost equivalent to that of European publications. Until a few years ago books in India were much cheaper.

It has just been issued by the association Asia Maior, the Italian observatory on Asia, the new book Crisi locali, crisi globale e nuovi equilibri in Asia [Local Crisis, Global Crisis, and the New Balance of Powers in Asia], edited by Michelguglielmo Torri and Nicola Mocci (Milano: Guerini e Associati, 2009). 

It includes papers on Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, China, North and South Korea, and Japan.