New IIAS Book Series
After having jointly published several books with Curzon over the past few years, the IIAS has now started a new series with this British publisher. At least five books in these series will be brought out in the course of this year. The first one to appear will be 'Nomads in the Sedentary World', edited by Anatoly M. Khazanov and André Wink (both professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). It is the outcome of an IIAS-NIAS seminar with the same title that was held in Leiden in July 1998.
By CATHELIJNE VEENKAMP
The book by Khazanov and Wink, which is scheduled to appear in spring 2000 in both hard- and paperback, draws the issue of the nomads in as wide a region as Eurasia and North Africa up to a new level. The problem of the relationship between pastoral nomads and the sedentary world has been addressed by numerous scholars in a variety of ways. But its reverse, the impact of nomads on this sedentary world, and more particularly their role in it, while not failing to draw general attention, has to a large extent been the subject of speculation rather than research. It is the latter question that this book seeks to address by studying this issue within a systematic and comparative framework.New Research in Asian Studies is the second volume to appear in spring 2000. The volume has been edited by Prof. Frans Hüsken, (Nijmegen University, IIAS president) and Dick van der Meij (Leiden University), and presents a wide variety of articles in the broad field of Asian Studies. The contributions stem from research that has been carried out by scholars who are or have been affiliated to the IIAS. As such the book reflects the rich diversity within this area of research, leading the reader along conspicuous topics such as the Central-European Jewish community in Shanghai from 1937 tot 1945 on the one hand and the complex linguistics of the Maithili (Nepal) verb on the other.
The series will feature three more books in summer 2000, and more may follow in Autumn or Winter. Southern Africa and Regional Co-operation in the Indian Ocean Rim is the long-expected volume, edited by Gwyn Campbell who is now attached to the Centre for North-South Interaction at the University of Avignon and who used to be an IIAS senior visiting fellow. The volume examines past and present economic links between the countries of Southern Africa and other regions bordering the Indian Ocean. In particular, it traces the historical background to and examines the prospects for the IOR, the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co-operation formally established in March 1997.
The contributors to the volume outline historical aspects of economic ties across the Indian Ocean and previous attempts on a sub-regional basis to promote economic co-operation. This forms the context for an analysis of the IOR initiative that has resulted largely from two related factors: the abortion of Apartheid and the fall of the Soviet empire, coupled with the rapid advance of globalization. The ideological constraints to the establishment of political and economic links across the Indian Ocean were thus removed and the policies of protectionism were dismissed under the pressure of globalization. One major consequence of this has been the promotion, notably by South Africa, India, Mauritius, and Australia, of the concept of a regional economic grouping, establishing the Indian Ocean as a region of potential economic power.
Images of the 'Modern Woman in Asia: Global Media/Local Meanings also coming out in hardback and paperback, is a volume edited by Shoma Munshi, former IIAS research fellow within the research programme 'Changing Lifestyles in Asia'. It is the first major study to examine the relationships between gender, media and modernity in Asian contexts. In examining these links, the contributors analyse some of the relationships between gender and the fluctuations of power by concentrating on the reach of global media and its (re)workings in local contexts. The book raises a series of questions about the representations of 'modern' Asian femininities in global and local media imagery and their interpretations. It centers on a number of core themes, questioning the validity of transposing Euro-American theorizing on these issues. It seeks to right this balance by locating the 'modern' Asian feminine subject within the framework of social relations material, economic and interpersonal which are in a larger perspective historical.
Law and Development in East and Southeast Asia is another strongly comparative volume in this series. It results from an IIAS workshop that took place in Leiden in January 1998. This workshop took place shortly after the onset of the Asian crisis. Many analysts have argued that a lack of legal regulation and the absence of transparency were major factors in triggering off the crisis. As a result, international financial institutions have made further financial support for individual Asian economies dependent on an improvement of the legal framework in which business operates. Many of the articles allow a conclusion to be drawn about how successful the current reforms will be and which features of the Asian approach to commercial law will be resistant to reform pressures. *
For more information about the IIAS publications please contact:
Elzeline van der Hoek,
E-mail: evanderhoek@let.leidenuniv.nl
For the new Curzon Series you may contact:
Curzon Press Ltd.
15 The Quadrant
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1BP
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44-181-948 4660
Fax: +44-181-332 7835
http://www.curzonpress.co.uk