Sweeping in scope, both historically and geographically, Vassanji weaves a rich tapestry of vivid characters (real and imagined) in a Kenya poised between colonialism and independence. Vikram Lall, like his adopted country, inhabits an 'in-between world': between the pull of his ancestral home in India and the Kenya he loves passionately; between his tragic past in Africa and an unclear future in Canada; between escape from political terror and a seemingly inevitable return home . . . a return that may cost him dearly. A master storyteller, Vassanji intertwines the political and the personal - the rise of the Mau Mau in the last days of colonialism looms large over a plot centring on two love stories and a deep friendship. The result is a sumptuous novel that brilliantly explores the tyranny of history and memory, and questions the individual's role and responsibility in lawless times.

With aggravating global realignments, the dynamics and contradictions of a world (risk) society are looming ahead in the unfolding Third Millennium while globalization is gaining further steam. To this bears witness a potpourri of often frightening geopolitical, social, cultural, economic, demographic, ecological and other changes and challenges that gives substantial cause for concern about getting lost in a 'trans-whatever' sea of turmoil, uncertainty and indeterminateness. The resultant current backlash or rather renewed interest in the nation as a collective identity-establishing category is an effort to gain some anchorage in ever more disintegrating times and proves especially those theoreticians wrong for whom the whole concept of the nation has worn off since long. In 16 resourceful essays internationally distinguished Canadian and European experts from a variety of fields take a fresh look at these developments by focussing on one of the most fascinating multicultural and multifaceted nation(-state)s in the world, Canada in the Third Millennium. The topics they discuss include, among others, Canada's difficult dissociation from Europe and the USA; the reframing and reclaiming of the Canadian story; the role of nations within the nation; the efforts to transcend the nation; pending geopolitical and (geo)ecological crises; glocal issues and new wars. Collectively, the entries prove that Canada is a very progressive nation and opens up new perspectives for other collectives currently reassessing their national identities in a global environment. Thus, the book reaches well beyond the study of 'Canada' and will be valuable to academics, professionals, teachers and students of various disciplines coping with the issue at stake as well as the general reader.

This book focuses on the fiction of four postcolonial authors: V.S. Naipaul, Anita Desai, Timothy Mo and Salman Rushdie. It argues that meals in their novels act as sites where the relationships between the individual subject and the social identities of race, class and gender are enacted. Drawing upon a variety of academic fields and disciplines — including postcolonial theory, historical research, food studies and recent attempts to rethink the concept of world literature — it dedicates a chapter to each author, tracing the literary, cultural and historical contexts in which their texts are located and exploring the ways in which food and the act of eating acquire meanings and how those meanings might clash, collide and be disputed. Not only does this book offer suggestive new readings of the work of its four key authors, but it challenges the reader to consider the significance of food in postcolonial fiction more generally.

Tsotsi is an angry young gang leader in the South African township of Sophiatown. A man without a past, he exists only to kill and steal. But one night, in a moonlit grove of bluegum trees, a woman he attempts to rape forces a shoebox into his arms. The box contains a baby, and his life is inexorably changed. He begins to remember his childhood, to rediscover himself and his capacity for love. Turned into an Oscar-winning movie in 2006, Tsotsi's raw power and rare humanity show how decency and compassion can survive against the odds.

Border Terrains examines 21st century diasporas through the lenses of identity negotiation, religious faith, language, media and representations in fiction.

Contributed articles and some papers presented at the Seminar on Post-colonial Diaspora : Fiction After 1980, held at Dharamshala in January 2005.

The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora is the first comprehensive survey of Indian communities around the world. Over 30 contextual features show the initiatives taken by these communities and the contributions they have made both internationally and to their host societies, in areas as diverse as literature, cuisine, popular culture, sports and political life. The greater part of the book consists of 44 country/region profiles covering all parts of the world. Written by over 60 scholars from across the globe, most of whom are from the diaspora, the encyclopedia provides insights into the experiences of a people about whom much is often assumed but little is actually known. The recent expansion of the Indian diaspora, now some 20-million strong and growing, is a social transformation of global significance. Many members of the diaspora have reached the highest levels of global commerce and trade, international public service and diplomacy, the professionals and academia. In addition, the creative literature from and about the diaspora holds a distinctive and distinguished place in the world's literary imagination.