Asian Lives in Anthropological Perspective: Essays on Morality, Achievement and Modernity

Contemporary Asian societies present a variety of contrasting experiences and afterlives of colonialism, revolutionary socialism, religion and secular nationalism. Asian Lives in Anthropological Perspective draws together essays that demonstrate how modernity has shaped two Asian settings in particular - India and Vietnam. It traces historical and contemporary realities through a variety of compelling topics such as the experience of the Indian caste system and the ethical challenges faced by Vietnamese working women.

Susan Bayly is Professor Emerita of Historical Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She was also the editor of the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (2000-2004). Her most recent publications include Asian Voices in a Postcolonial Age. Vietnam, India and Beyond (Cambridge University Press, 2007), ’Anthropology and History’. In Schools and Styles of Anthropological Theory. Matei Candea, ed. (London: Routledge, 2018).