By Laura T. Murphy (NHC Fellow, 2017–18) A celebrated revolution brought freedom to a group of enslaved people in northern India. Or did it? Millions of people around the world today are enslaved; nearly eight million of them live in India, more than anywhere else. This book is the story of a small group of … Continued
By Judith Farquhar (NHC Fellow, 2007–08; 2015–16) and Lili Lai In the early 2000s, the central government of China encouraged all of the nation’s registered minorities to “salvage, sort, synthesize, and elevate” folk medical knowledges in an effort to create local health care systems comparable to the nationally supported institutions of traditional Chinese medicine. Gathering Medicines bears … Continued
By Joanne Rappaport (NHC Fellow, 2002–03) Although only 2 percent of Colombia’s population identifies as indigenous, that figure belies the significance of the country’s indigenous movement. More than a quarter of the Colombian national territory belongs to indigenous groups, and 80 percent of the country’s mineral resources are located in native-owned lands. In this innovative … Continued
By Michael G. Peletz (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) How do Islamic courts work? What sorts of cultural understandings inform judicial process and litigants’ strategies? How do women’s claims fare? Do these courts promote social tolerance? And how do states use them to consolidate power, build nations, and shape a modern citizenry? These are among the questions … Continued
By Luis Nicolau Parés (NHC Fellow, 2010–11) By combining oral traditions and rituals with handwritten and printed documents, Luis Nicolau Parés wrote a remarkable story of the slaves brought to Brazil, originaores from the region where the powerful kingdom of Dahomey was located, in the present Republic of Benin.