"In the erudite essay that opens this forum, Prasenjit Duara turns to both indigenous thinkers and the premodern past for tools with which to think about Asia in a global age. Contemporary modalities of regional exchange – ‘weakly bounded, network-oriented, pluralistic, multitemporal’ – chime with earlier patterns of cultural circulation without state domination, giving rise to a prophetic vision of ‘Asia Redux’. This attempt to capture the contours of a (re)-emergent region was calculated to provide. And what a debate it kicks off. Wang Hui resolutely reframe imagining Asia as a political project on a world-historical canvas. Tansen Sen greatly complicates the map of intra-Asian commercial exchange in earlier times; Amitav Acharya outlines five competing conceptions of Asia in the domain of international relations alone.; Barbara Watson Andaya teases out the paradoxical way in which regional religions make clashing claims about Asian unity; and Rudolf Mrazek asks, what of the Asia that bleeds? what of exploitation and its spawn, the inglorious ‘built-ends’ of the global economy? The reward for those who read this collection straight through is a thrillingly cacophonous conversation about how to grasp Asia in our time.” —Karen E. Wigen, Stanford University “Will a re-emergent Asia extend the violent rivalries and inequalities of Western-dominated empires, nations and capital? Or can Asia somehow draw on a relatively more peaceful past of maritime trade, interlinked religions and circulations beyond states to think and make a very different sort of region and world? Prasenjit Duara and his interlocutors define this vital debate on Asia’s future through illuminating reflections on its recent and deep past. A touchstone for anyone concerned with a future shape of an inter-connected Asia newly possessed of wealth and power” —Engseng Ho, Duke University

Vyāsa is the primary creative poet of the Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata and 'Vyāsa Redux' examines the many paradoxical dimensions of his narrative virtuosity in the poem where the poet is both the creator of the work and a character within it. The book also studies elements in the poem which have been received by the late Bronze Age poets who composed the figure of Vyāsa, elements that reflect kinship, polity and modes of mnemonic inspiration. Three paired concepts function within the poem’s narrative process: first, the central approach of the book is founded upon the distinction between plot and story, that is, the causal relation of events as opposed to the temporal relation of events. Second, much of the argument then engages with how this distinction relates to the difference between the preliterate and literate phases of our present text. Third, the nature of how inspiration functions and how edition operates becomes another vital component in our analytic process explaining how Vyāsa becomes a dramatic, causal and at times prophetic character in the poem’s narration as well as its originator.

This book explores the role of cognition in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) assessing how the field has developed over the past thirty years and discusses where the field is heading, as we begin to live in increasingly interconnected digital environments. Taking a broad chronological view, the author discusses cognition in relation to areas like make-believe, and appropriation, and places these more recent concepts in the context of traditional thinking about the psychology of HCI. HCI Redux will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in psychology, the cognitive sciences and HCI. It will also be of interest to all readers with a curiosity about our everyday use of technology.

This book on historical anthropology remaps the Mediterranean by reframing classical themes from early Mediterraneanist anthropology. This edited volume showcases how anthropology can contribute to an understanding of ongoing transnational dynamics and the new wave of scholarship on the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is back as a locus of international anxiety and academic concern. It has reemerged in the international news cycle as a space of desperate crossings and tragic endings, as the site in which a refugee crisis rivalling that of the Second World War is playing out in real time for a global viewing public. The scale of the crisis has called into question Europe’s humanitarian principles and internal political union, making the Mediterranean into a mirror for long-standing tensions between norms of universalism and demands for national security. These captivating events have further raised the tide of scholars’ interest in the Mediterranean. How should ethnographers contribute to the new wave of scholarship on the Mediterranean? To what extent does the Mediterranean offer alternative forms of political relatedness to those construed from within Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East? In this volume, we reframe classical themes from early iterations of Mediterranean anthropology to address these questions in our examinations of changing dynamics across land and sea borders, bringing ethnography back to the study of the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean – with its Mediterraneanism – back to ethnography. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, History and Anthropology.

B-TIK is one of the most beautiful small WORLDS in the GALAXY. In fact, the EARTH could truly become a paradise if the human inhabitants stopped trying their very best to "multiply and subdue" it. Their cancerous population growth, mindless consumption of its natural resources, and catastrophic elevation of themselves to superiority over all the other species who co-habit their PLANET have corrupted it for everyone, including themselves. Given their evolutionary history, however, perhaps the PLANET was doomed from the beginning. In any case, their self-centeredness has outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any. The "idea" that they are entitled to everything they can get their hands on is reinforced daily by their governments, their laws, their parents, their schools, their entertainment media, their religions. If they are to survive the next century, their juvenile egos will have to mature and learn to rely on values other than family, country, and gods to give their lives meaning. Countless humans have said to me, "It's more complicated than that!" But to a child, everything is complicated. Apparently nothing short of genetic manipulation will fix the defect, and even that is [fraught] with difficulties--who is going to decide which genes to manipulate? As B-TIK moves inexorably toward catastrophe, there will be more and more sapiens who will slowly awaken and wonder what went wrong. Unfortunately, it is almost too late to reverse the damage, even though a simple treatment of all their social and environmental illnesses--the elimination of capital, nations, religions, and parental indoctrination--is readily available. Yet, with only a quarter of a century left to initiate the necessary changes, the majority of them continue to go on with their robotic ways as if there will be no tomorrow. Ironic, no? Without these adjustments the prognosis is not good, and the sapiens will not survive another century. If they manage to evolve before they self-destruct, however, they could become admirable citizens of the UNIVERSE, and certainly some of the more interesting ones. But they still have a long way to go. Even after a thousand centuries of experience, they are yet children.

a collection of poetry that represents the quintessence of one man’s journey, capturing the trials and tribulations, the realizations and lessons, the love and passing of life. Readers entering this soulful journey will taste both traditional and contemporary forms of poetry. Fasten your seat belt and enjoy a thought provoking ride the maturation of this life.

To the distinguished economic historian Jonathan Hughes, the ambiguous outcomes of attempted deregulation signal America's urgent need to probe the origins of our vast and chaotic maze of government economic controls. Why do government restrictions on the economy continue to proliferate, in spite of avowed efforts to allow the market a freer rein? How did this complicated network of nonmarket economic controls come about and whose purposes does it serve? How can we render such controls less destructive of productivity and wealth-creating activity? While exploring these questions, Jonathan Hughes updates his classic book The Governmental Habit to reflect the experience of what he calls the "wild ride" of the last fifteen years and to include a survey of new thinking about the problems of government intervention and control of economic life. Hughes's comprehensive work provides a narrative history of governmental involvement in the U.S. economy from the colonial period to the present, arguing convincingly that the "governmental habit" is deeply rooted in the country's past. In the lively and accessible style of the earlier book, The Governmental Habit Redux contends that modern American government is basically an enormous version of American colonial regimes. Changes in scale have transformed what was once an acceptable pattern into a conglomeration of inefficient and wasteful bureaucracies. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A companion to Mathematical Apocrypha (published in 2002) this second volume of anecdotes, stories, quips, and ruminations about mathematics and mathematicians is sure to please. It differs from other books of its type in that many of the stories are from the twentieth century and many about currently living mathematicians. A number of the best stories come from the author's first-hand experience. The writing is lively, engaging, and informative. There are stories the reader may wish to share with students and colleagues, friends, and relatives. The purpose of the book is to explore and to celebrate the many facets of mathematical life. The stories reveal mathematicians as intense, human, and sympathetic. They should resonate with readers everywhere. This book will appeal to students from high school through graduate school, to faculty and mathematical scientists of all stripes, and also to physicists, engineer, and anyone interested in mathematics.