Asiatica Association

In the box on your right you can see the cover of a new book on Asia:

The Explorer of the Duce: The Adventures of Giuseppe Tucci and Italian Foreign Policy in the Orient from Mussolini to Andreotti: With the Correspondence of Giulio Andreotti, by Enrica Garzilli, 2 vols., Rome-Milan: Memori editrice and Asiatica Association, Sept. 2012. Vol. 1, pp. LII + 685; Vol. 2, pp. XIV + 726.

It is a biography of the great scholar and explorer of Tibet, Nepal and Ladakh Giuseppe Tucci (1894-1984), and a history book on Foreign Policy in Asia. It is based on original and often unedited documents (archives and fonts), original and often unedited correspondence (Sanskrit, Nepali, English, Romanian, Hindi and Italian letters), original films, original and unedited photos, 9 original maps, and interviews.

It offers 4 unedited Sanskrit letters by Giuseppe Tucci to the Royal Preceptor of Nepal Hem Raj Sharma, 1 unedited English letter to Dr. Dilli R. Regmi, 1 unedited  Sanskrit letter by Carlo Formichi (his teacher, and Visiting Professor at Vishvabharati, the university of Tagore, in 1925-26) to Hem Raj, 1 unedited Nepali letter by Kesar Bahadur K. C. to Hem Raj, 1 unedited English letter by the then Prime Minister of Nepal Mohan Shamsher Rana to Tucci, big part of the correspondence between Tucci and the philospher Giovanni Gentile, and the whole unedited correspondence between Tucci and Giulio Andreotti.

Among the others, it includes interviews to Giulio Andreotti, Filippani-Ronconi, Fosco Maraini, Dilli R. Regmi, Rishikesh Shaha, Mahes Pant, Dinesh Pant and other scholars.

Through Tucci's life, I reconstructed the Italian politics in part of Asia (India, Tibet and Nepal, but also partly Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Tucci opened the 1st Italian archaeological missions), and the cultural history of Italy in Asia. The book includes documents proving Benito Mussolini's idea of making India a "future dominion" of the Italian Empire. Mussolini wanted to "take possession" of India! He wanted to replace the British Raj. In fact he strongly supported India independence and, as everybody knows, hosted and met several times with Subhas Chandra Bose. The history of Fascism in Asia was stuck at the excellent (but outdated) work of Renzo De Felice.

We are pleased to announce the publication of Gender, Social Change and the Media, eds. by Johannes D. Schmidt and Torsten R. Berg, Delhi: Rawat Publications, 2012. Pp. 240. Rs.695 / US$45 (Hardcover). ISBN: 978-81-316-0513-4

List of Contributors: Lok Raj Baral, Torsten Rødel Berg, Chandra Bhadra, Enrica Garzilli, "The Interplay between Gender, Religion and Politics, and the New Violence against Women in Nepal”, Hanne Lund Jensen, Sunil Pokharel, Sangita Rayamajhi, Shiva Rijal, Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt, Nisha Sharma, Abhi Subedi, Gérard Toffin.

This book is an informative, engaging and critical attempt to contribute to a profound discussion about gender and social change in landlocked Nepal in South Asia. It covers new ground relating to the challenges women face in terms of the enormous changes taking place in the Nepalese society.

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.