'The Americas were generous enough to preserve the literatures and ruins of the Incas, the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Native Americans in a number of museums. But the self-proclaimed liberal and tolerant Indian culture had spared not even that much space for the Asurs. They existed only as vestiges of myths.' After a long period of unemployment, Master Sahib is appointed to a school for tribal girls in rural Jharkhand--on a remote plateau, near open bauxite mines. He has heard of the Asur tribe who live there--that they are primitive, crude giants, or perhaps even the demons of myth. Master Sahib settles into an uneasy routine, prejudiced against his neighbours and surroundings. But when Lalchan Asur, the village chief's son, appears in his room, battered and bloody, Master Sahib must perforce get involved with the community around him. As he makes friends--with Lalchan and his brothers, Rumjhum Babu, Doctor Ram Kumar, Lalita and Etwari--Master Sahib finds that the Asurs are desperately poor. He sees that they are being further impoverished by mine owners and opportunistic godmen, hungry to exploit the land and women. When the Asurs decide to strike against the mine owners, Master Sahib realizes that he is caught up in the age-old battle between the Asurs and the Devas--and that this time, the Devas are the Lords of global capital, remote from petty human concerns. Ranendra's masterful parable brings alive the real plight of tribal communities today, their very existence threatened by a nexus of corporate rapacity and the hunger for development. Lords of the Global Village, with its spare prose and memorable characters, is a legend for and of our times.

Literature from the Peripheries: Refrigerated Culture and Pluralism is a critical and literary inquiry into the cultures and communities which exist only in peripheries. The book theorizes the idea of refrigerated cultures with literary examples.

As corporations are restructured, governments cut back, and the international economy transformed, there is an increasing need to understand the economic and political forces involved, evaluate their implications, and develop strategies to modify them to meet society's interests. In light of the current situation, the study of political economy is more relevant than ever. Understanding Canada examines a variety of topics from viewpoints ranging from the established to the interdisciplinary. Issues such as gender, Native peoples, race, ethnicity and migration, globalization, foreign policy, the welfare state, regulation, communications, popular culture, and space and the environment are examined, as are the more traditional subjects of economic growth, resources and The new Canadian political economy has emerged from its infancy and is now regarded as a respected and innovative field of scholarship. Understanding Canada furthers this tradition by focusing on current issues in an accessible and informative way. Contents Introduction: Whither the New Canadian Political Economy? - Wallace Clement - Economic Growth and Economic Crisis: Canadian Capitalism Through the Ages - Mel Watkins (Toronto) - Resources and Manufacturing in Canada's Political Economy - Wallace Clement and Glen Williams (Carleton) - Labour in the New Canadian Political Economy - Paul Philips (Manitoba) - Gender at Work: Canadian Feminist Political Economy after 1988 - Meg Luxton (York) and Heather Jon Maroney (Carleton) - Understanding What Happened Here: The Political Economy of Indigenous Peoples - Frances Abele (Carleton) - The Political Economy of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration - Daiva Stasiulis (Carleton) - Going Global: The Politics of Canada's Foreign Policy - Mark Neufeld (Trent) and Sandy Whitworth (York) - Re-mapping Canada: The State in the Era of Globalism - Greg Albo (York) and Jane Jenson (Montréal) - The New Political Economy of Regions - Janine Brodie (York) - The Challenges of the Quebec Question: Paradigm and Counter-Paradigm - Daniel Salée (Concordia) and William Coleman (McMaster) - From the Post-War to the Post-Liberal Keynesian Welfare State - Isabella Bakker (York) and Katherine Scott (?) - Displacing the Welfare State - Liora Salter (York) and Rick Salter (?) - Public Discourse and the Structures of Communication - Ted Magder (York) - The (Real) Integrated Circus: Political Economy, Popular Culture, and Major League Sport - David Whitson (Alberta) and Richard Gruneau (affil?) - Contested Terrains: Social Space and the Canadian Environment - Iain Wallace (Carleton) and Rob Shields (Carleton).

Offers 15 essays discussing the meaning of Marshall McLuhan's global village in a world witnessing explosive forces of individualism, tribalism, and nationalism. Topics include lessons from the Blacksburg electronic village, MTV's global footprint, missionaries in a global village, and the Swedish raggare subculture. Includes bandw photos. No index. Paper edition (772-1), $24.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The global village, however, is not the blissful utopia that McLuhan predicted.

"First published in Great Britain in 1989 by Macmillan London Limited"--T.p. verso. Bibliography: p. 195-226.