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In this volume the contributors use GIS (Geographical Information Systems) to reassess both historic and contemporary Asian countries and traditionally Islamic areas. ... Read more

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Urban agriculture is an important practice in developing contries, and it is seen as one of the means of alleviating poverty. Consequently, it is increasingly drawing the attention of international organizations like the United Nations, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and others. The United Nations and the IDRC, for example, have individually created units to deal with the practice and have both sponsored research in this area. In addition to exploring the economic importance of urban agriculture, this book looks in detail at the sociological issues involved such as social inequality and gender. ... Read more

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These works entertain the question of how scholars may reconfigure "area-based knowledge" to respond to social sciences and globalization. ... Read more

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Is there a Globalizing world?
Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World is a collection of essays addressing the on-going crisis in area studies: "The object of the Five Colleges faculty symposium Global-Local: Revisioning the Area Studies Debate, 16-18 October 1998 at Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, was to reflect on the current state of area studies in some of the regions where such studies flourished traditionally" (p. 14).

Twelve essays bring forth contributions by sociologists, anthropologists, historians, political scientist, etc. Incidentally, these proceedings are published after five years. As a result, a generation gap (rather a changed era, given the widening difference between the pre- and post 9/11 worldview) might raise eye brows. An answer to these, however, is not found in the book.

The book alerts us about a misplaced status of local knowledge within a volatile globalizing atmosphere (that tends to drift towards transnational / borderless states). In order to get out of the crisis by accepting the realities, the symposium suggests a strategy, including first, identifying opportunities that may help reduce ethnocentricity in the existing academic framework, and second, revitalizing the current curricula and research programs:

"The fluid concepts of globalization can be made more precise and meaningful only be being grounded in area studies. It is precisely the relationship between global processes and area-based knowledge that opens up new perspectives on globalizing societies, nations, and cultures. Viewing globalization from the vantage point of particular localities necessitates the displacement of totalizing theories of globalization with the recognition that globalization has assumed diverse forms connected by unequal power relations" (p. 13).

Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World will be a useful addition in any area studies library. In addition, those who wish to browse more on globalizing and localizing perspective, will benefit from a similar title, viz.,. Rethinking Globalizations: From Corporate Transnationalism to Local Interventions,ISBN 0312226004, Preet S. Aulakh (Editor), Palgrave Macmillan2000.

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The collapse of the Soviet Union opened previously unimagined possibilities for insight into Russian social, intellectual, and political history.This volume,a collaboration of American, Russian, and West European scholars, illuminates the creation and complex dynamics of the Russian industrial working class from its peasant origins in the mid-nineteenth century to the collapse of the imperial system in 1917.The authors focus on the shifting attitudes, cultural norms, self-representations, and increasing self-consciousness of workers as they interacted with the new social movements, student groups, the Church, and most dramatically, the political intelligentsia. ... Read more

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In this newsmaking report of the largest study to date of mental illness in America, Robins and Regier and a roster of leading psychiatrists and epidemiologists document the true dimensions of the various psychiatric disorders afflicting millions of contemporary Americans. ... Read more

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Rigorous academic ethnograpy of the Isan people
"Around the end of the nineteenth century, the Lao settled on either side of the Mekong River in what became two separate nation-states, Thailand and the Lao People's Democratic Republic and in each country established a distinct and separate lifestyle. The Thai-Lao settled in northeast Thailand where they ... developed their own distinct identity within the region that came to be called Isan."

This quote, from the beginning of chapter 2, provides an epitome of this rigorous academic ethnographic study of the people of the Isan region, their Buddhism, their animism and magic, their society and culture. The book is not an easy read for the non-professional anthropologist, but nevertheless provides a wealth of detail on the Isan people that may be of general interest to those familiar with Thailand, Bangkok, or Laos. The author presents issues relevant to the study, provides a brief review of previous literature, gives a short history of ancient Lan Xang (Lan Chang) kingdom and its deterioration, and the emergence of the Lao Diaspora along the Mekong River. The bulk of the book details the often bizarre beliefs of the Isan people that result from Theravada Buddhism overlaying ancient animistic beliefs in spirits, witchcraft, and magic.

Aimed at the professional anthropologist and serious student of Thailand, Laos, and Theravada Buddhism; an excellent reference for that audience. Includes an extensive multilingual bibliography.

Hopefully the publisher will keep this title in print.
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