University of Washington Press launches Book Series on Global South Asia
The University of Washington Press is launching a new book series titled “Global South Asia”. The series will be co-edited by Kalyanakrishnan “Shivi” Sivaramakrishnan, Dinakar Singh Professor of India and South Asian Studies, Professor of Anthropology, Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Co-director of the Program in Agrarian Studies at Yale University.
Global South Asia will focus primarily on modern and contemporary periods but will also include connections with earlier eras. The series seeks to draw on humanities and social sciences, as well as interdisciplinary approaches, to examine the ways in which South Asia is, and has been, global and how it has shaped the world. Volumes will present new work on social and intellectual history, South Asian connections in Asia and beyond, popular culture, the history and sociology of science and technology, literature, and visual and material culture. Contemporary topics will include the changing experience of democracy, growing environmental risks, community formation in the Digital Age, and the proliferation of cultural industries.
As the official description of the book series notes, global connections have been negotiated by trade regimes as well as the appeal of South Asian goods, design, religion, visual and performing arts, and technical expertise brought by millions of migrants. Political turmoil, natural disasters, and environmental degradation have also linked the world to South Asia in the form of development assistance, issues around human security, climate change, and endangered species conservation. Global South Asia series will welcome scholarship on these topics and more that relate to the South Asian region covered by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The series will be co-edited by three distinguished professors. The first, as noted, is Yale University’s own Kalyanakrishnan “Shivi” Sivaramakrishnan, the current Chair of South Asia Studies Council. Shivi will bring his expertise on issues of environmental history and anthropology, development studies, and cultural geography in India to the editorial team. The other two co-editors of Global South Asia series are Padma Kaimal, professor of art history at Colgate University, and Anand A. Yang, Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Professor of international studies and history at the University of Washington.
Lorri Hagman, the executive editor at the University of Washington Press and one of the acquisitions editors for the series, conveyed the Press’s enthusiasm for launching the series. According to Ms. Hagman, “The University of Washington Press is expanding its list of publications in Asian studies overall and recognizes that this is an ideal time–for our press and for readers interested in this dynamic field–to launch a formal series on South Asia, as the region’s influence expands in countless ways internationally. Our three series editors bring a perfect blend of perspectives and contacts, and we already have a number of strong projects in development, with topics ranging from environmental history to textiles to caste and gender. Since we began soliciting manuscripts for the series in Fall 2013 and our acquisitions editors attended the Conference on South Asia in Madison for the first time, it has become clear that our main ‘problem’ will be an abundance of submissions. There is clearly a need–on the part of both authors and readers–for such a series. Our editorial team is committed to publishing the best of the best, with attention to maintaining a balance across regions in South Asia and across academic disciplines.”
Congratulations to the University of Washington Press on the launch of a dynamic book series!