Religious nationalism is a subject of critical importance in much of the world today. Peter van der Veer's timely study on the relationship between religion and politics in India goes well beyond other books on this subject. He brings together several disciplines—anthropology; history; social theory; literary studies—to show how Indian religious identities have been shaped by pilgrimage; migration; language development; and more recently; print and visual media.Van der Veer's central focus is the lengthy dispute over the Babari mosque in Ayodhya; site of a bloody confrontation between Hindus and Muslims in December 1992. A thought-provoking range of other examples describes the historical construction of religious identities: cow protection societies and Sufi tombs; purdah and the political appropriation of images of the female body; Salman Rushdie and the role of the novel in nationalism; Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda; the Khalsa movement among Sikhs; and nationalist archaeology and the televised Ramayana.Van der Veer offers a new perspective on the importance of religious organization and the role of ritual in the formation of nationalism. His work advances our understanding of contemporary India while also offering significant theoretical insights into one of the most troubling issues of this century.
#517785 in Books imusti 1984-06-05Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.25 x .74 x 5.50l; .73 #File Name: 0520053311304 pagesUniversity of California Press
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. One of the Most Important Books for Those with a Mind for Politics and PolicyBy NMOCMIf only every policy maker and every voter would read this book! Pressman and Wildavsky dig in and show how the best of intentions; and even seemingly great plans; fall apart when it's time to implement them on the ground. They show the difficulties in coordinating the many stakeholders that governments have to bring together; in synchronizing steps carried out by an array of public and private organizations; and of keeping everybody on board over the course of time it takes to execute plans. They show that even if each step in the implementation of a policy seems like a no-brainer; a long series of steps almost certain to succeed can be almost certain to fail! The human mind sees a series of steps that have a 95% chance of success and thinks that the process is likely to work... we rarely appreciate that if there's a 95% chance of each of 15 things working; there's a less than 50% chance that they all work. And when you need to coordinate them to all work on a tight timeline; forget about it! Pressman and Wildavsky's Implementation shows; in both human and theoretical terms; how these miscalculations caused government policy in Oakland to fall apart.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy NarineGoood condition and great value0 of 2 people found the following review helpful. I bought this book for my daughter and she needed ...By Sharon HowardI bought this book for my daughter and she needed it for school and this purchase really saved us a lot of money!!
