Art of Ancient India and the Aegean

Art of Ancient India and the Aegean
Author: A.S. Bhalla
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2024-07-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1803277629

This book examines similarities and differences between art in ancient Indian (Indus) civilizations and that of the Aegean civilizations. The comparison raises questions about possible cross-cultural influences, which became more significant following Alexander’s invasion and the subsequent adaptation of Indian art under the Indo-Greek kingdoms.

Asia’s Trouble Spots

Asia’s Trouble Spots
Author: A. S. Bhalla
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786608375

The art of successful negotiations over protracted conflicts presupposes a political commitment to peace and a willingness to compromise, which are sorely lacking in the current disorderly world. Part of the blame for this lies in weak and ineffective national and global leadership. This book’s sharp focus on the role of leadership at different levels—national government, rebel and Western/regional government mediators—as well as that of the UN and non-governmental players in settling intra-state disputes, is a unique feature which sets it apart from others. Much of the existing literature does not adequately discuss the role of the above actors in developing countries. Asia’s Trouble Spots is a serious attempt to fill this gap. The seven country studies in Asia—Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and China—discuss, inter alia, how peace negotiations between national political and rebel leaders have unfolded. The role of state-sponsored cross-border terrorists and non-state spoilers such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS is addressed in the context of geopolitical rivalry among regional and global powers. A. S. Bhalla challenges the view that Western leaders can act as impartial mediators in intra-state and inter-state disputes. With few exceptions, their record has been dismal at best. Their failure in conflict resolution arises from a loss of moral authority and credibility, which follows the gradual erosion over the years of such liberal values as the rule of law and respect for democracy and human rights. Commercial and strategic self-interests have also tended to undermine peacebuilding efforts.

National and Global Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

National and Global Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author: A.S. Bhalla
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2023-08-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3031295218

This book traces the evolution of Covid across different geographic regions, showing how the varying responses of leaders, citizens and other key stakeholders in efforts to tackle the Covid crisis determined outcomes. It finds that leadership, in particular, played a critical role, while initial conditions, such as health-care spending and infrastructure are important factors contributing to a country’s preparedness in coping with a pandemic.

A Cultural History of the British Empire

A Cultural History of the British Empire
Author: John MacKenzie
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2022-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300268815

A compelling history of British imperial culture, showing how it was adopted and subverted by colonial subjects around the world As the British Empire expanded across the globe, it exported more than troops and goods. In every colony, imperial delegates dispersed British cultural forms. Facilitated by the rapid growth of print, photography, film, and radio, imperialists imagined this new global culture would cement the unity of the empire. But this remarkably wide-ranging spread of ideas had unintended and surprising results. In this groundbreaking history, John M. MacKenzie examines the importance of culture in British imperialism. MacKenzie describes how colonized peoples were quick to observe British culture—and adapted elements to their own ends, subverting British expectations and eventually beating them at their own game. As indigenous communities integrated their own cultures with the British imports, the empire itself was increasingly undermined. From the extraordinary spread of cricket and horse racing to statues and ceremonies, MacKenzie presents an engaging imperial history—one with profound implications for global culture in the present day.

Modern Asian Design

Modern Asian Design
Author: D.J. Huppatz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2018-02-22
Genre: Design
ISBN: 1474296866

Modern Asian Design provides a comprehensive introduction to the development of Asian design in the modern period, both tracing historical threads and offering a theoretical framework within which to chart the history of design in Asia. Rather than a singular “Asian history”, this book presents a series of studies centred on trade routes, colonial relationships, regional networks and cross-cultural exchanges. Modern Asian Design builds on existing resources beyond design history in an effort to map the field, focusing particularly on relations between Asia and the West and also across Asian design cultures. Opening with a brief overview of trade and exchange networks in the 17th and 18th centuries, the bulk of this study comprises analysis of the development of modern design in Asia during the later 19th and early 20th centuries, a period of rapid modernisation. The book's final two chapters bring these central ideas into a contemporary and highly relevant context.

The Architecture of Empire

The Architecture of Empire
Author: Gauvin Alexander Bailey
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2022-09-16
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0228012449

Most monumental buildings of France’s global empire – such as the famous Saigon and Hanoi Opera Houses – were built in South and Southeast Asia. Much of this architecture, and the history of who built it and how, has been overlooked. The Architecture of Empire considers the large-scale public architecture associated with French imperialism in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century India, Siam, and Vietnam, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century Indochina, the largest colony France ever administered in Asia. Offering a sweeping panorama of the buildings of France’s colonial project, this is the first study to encompass the architecture of both the ancien régime and modern empires, from the founding of the French trading company in the seventeenth century to the independence and nationalist movements of the mid-twentieth century. Gauvin Bailey places particular emphasis on the human factor: the people who commissioned, built, and lived in these buildings. Almost all of these architects, both Europeans and non-Europeans, have remained unknown beyond – at best – their surnames. Through extensive archival research, this book reconstructs their lives, providing vital background for the buildings themselves. Much more than in the French empire of the Western Hemisphere, the buildings in this book adapt to indigenous styles, regardless of whether they were designed and built by European or non-European architects. The Architecture of Empire provides a unique, comprehensive study of structures that rank among the most fascinating examples of intercultural exchange in the history of global empires.

Monuments, Power and Poverty in India

Monuments, Power and Poverty in India
Author: A. S. Bhalla
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2020-03-19
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1350154695

Much has been written about the Imperial architecture of the Indian subcontinent, but this is the first book to dig deeply into the extent of imperial extravagance set against the economic and social conditions of ordinary subjects. Bhalla uses an extensive collection of illustrations to complement this apparent paradox, assessing three Indian empires – Hindu, Muslim and British. From the 3rd century BC through to the end of British colonialism, splendid and often deliberately ostentatious buildings glorified the contemporary social structures. Moving through these different periods, important symbols of the various empires are assessed, including the fort palaces of Agra, Delhi and Lahore and the Taj Mahal. The author here examines both the positives and negatives of empire, taking in social stability but also exploitation and oppression, exploring the subject of Indian poverty in a historical perspective alongside the more lasting symbols of empire. Through comparisons and contrasts, from the mausolea and palaces of the Mughals to the government buildings and memorials provided by the British, this is a comprehensive and well-researched overview of a country whose architectural history gives important insights into the diversity of its rulers. This unique look into colonial architecture and power dynamics will prove essential readers for students, researchers and all those with an interest in South Asian history or the history of architecture.

Legally Victimising National Monuments

Legally Victimising National Monuments
Author: Dr. Krishan Mahajan
Publisher: Notion Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2018-05-30
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1643240129

Can Parliament and the Union Government deprive Indians of their cultural heritage right to monuments? How has this deprivation been achieved by using the legislative process? Has the judicial culture of the Supreme Court been able to return to Indians this cultural heritage right? Can nationally important monuments be protected in a contrary political economy? How to retrieve and restore to Indians the fundamental right to the distinct culture of monuments by understanding what a monument is?

Monumental Matters

Monumental Matters
Author: Santhi Kavuri-Bauer
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-09-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780822349228

Built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, India’s Mughal monuments—including majestic forts, mosques, palaces, and tombs, such as the Taj Mahal—are world renowned for their grandeur and association with the Mughals, the powerful Islamic empire that once ruled most of the subcontinent. In Monumental Matters, Santhi Kavuri-Bauer focuses on the prominent role of Mughal architecture in the construction and contestation of the Indian national landscape. She examines the representation and eventual preservation of the monuments, from their disrepair in the colonial past to their present status as protected heritage sites. Drawing on theories of power, subjectivity, and space, Kavuri-Bauer’s interdisciplinary analysis encompasses Urdu poetry, British landscape painting, imperial archaeological surveys, Indian Muslim identity, and British tourism, as well as postcolonial nation building, World Heritage designations, and conservation mandates. Since Independence, the state has attempted to construct a narrative of Mughal monuments as symbols of a unified, secular nation. Yet modern-day sectarian violence at these sites continues to suggest that India’s Mughal monuments remain the transformative spaces—of social ordering, identity formation, and national reinvention—that they have been for centuries.