Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Contributors to this Volume; Introduction; 1. 'Kalarippayattu is Eighty Percent Mental and Only the Remainder is Physical': Power, Agency and Self in a South Asian Martial Art; 2. Empowering Yourself: Sport, Sexuality and Autoeroticism in North Indian Jori Swinging; 3. Indigenous Polo in Northern Pakistan: Game and Power on the Periphery; 4. 'The Moral that can be Safely Drawn from the Hindus' Magnificent Victory': Cricket, Caste and the Palwankar Brothers; 5. The Peasants are Revolting: Race, Culture and Ownership in Cricket; 6. The Social History of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, 1829-2003; 7. Warrior Goddess Versus Bipedal Cow: Sport, Space, Performance and Planning in an Indian City; 8. 'Nupilal': Women's War, Football and the History of Modern Manipur; 9. 'Playing for the Tibetan People': Football and History in the High Himalaysia; 10. Community, Identity and Sport: Anglo-Indians in Colonial and Postcolonial India; Notes; Bibliography

Promotional Information

A unique volume about the sporting history in South Asia.

About the Author

James H. Mills teaches Indian history at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. He is the author of 'Cannabis Britannica: Empire, Trade and Prohibition 1800-1928' (OUP, 2003) and 'Madness, Cannabis and Colonialism: The 'Native-Only' Lunatic Asylums of British India, 1857-1900' (Palgrave, 2000). He has co-edited 'Confronting the Body: The Politics of Physicality in Colonial and Post-Colonial India' (Anthem Press, 2004).

Reviews

"This book is part [of] the new 'Anthem South Asian Studies' series, which focuses on issues in academic fields ranging from politics and economics to anthropology, history, sport, art, and culture. Mills (history, Strathclyde Univ., Scotland) brings together a diverse team of contributors, who weave varies subaltern (domination, oppression) themes with colonialism, nationalism, economic development, religion, and politics while tracing the development, transformation, and impact of sport in South Asia. Following Mills's lead and his prior work on historiography of Asian sport, the essayists offer views of power, self, sexuality, culture, and race--among other subjects--by examining South Asian martial arts and gymnastics (jori), and the region's struggles on the sacred playing grounds of cricket, polo, golf, and football (soccer). Presenting an insightful view of a world seldom revealed to Westerners, this book will appeal to those interested in globalization and cultural and sports studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals."--M. L. Krotee, North Carolina State University in CHOICE