Using a range of keywords to re-orient directions in the study of South Asian history and society, this volume is a valuable contribution to the subject. Keywords ranging from classical terms in music, art and philosophy to colloquial ones that are commonly used in everyday conversation and political ones that became well known in the recent past are juxtaposed to create a rich tapestry of textures, tones and colours. In their attempt to provide a non-essentialist and decolonized interpretation of South Asian history and culture, the editors have included English words such as ‘lab’ and ‘violence’ that are very much part of the fabric of ordinary, day-to-day life. Apart from commonly used words, the inclusion of terms from Western classical music that are an important part of the musical heritage of North-Eastern India is refreshing. It not only points to the cultural diversity of South Asia but also to its hybridity. While national cultures in the countries that make up the subcontinent may be different from each other with differing histories of colonization and independence, they have all at different moments in their histories embraced other cultures and integrated them into their own. At a time when most countries across the world are seeing a resurgence in nationalist ideologies, a volume that celebrates cultural diversity is a welcome contribution to the field of social science.

Renny Thomas is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal, India, and was the Taki Visiting Global Professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University, New York, USA (2024–25). Before joining IISER, he taught Sociology at the University of Delhi (2015–21). He has been a Charles Wallace Fellow in Social Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK (2017–18) and a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Cultural History at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany (2022–23). He is the author of Science and Religion in India: Beyond Disenchantment (2021) and co-editor of Mapping Scientific Method: Disciplinary Narrations (2022).

Sasanka Perera is Chairman of the Colombo Institute for Human Sciences, and was Professor of Sociology at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and South Asian University (SAU), New Delhi. He is the author of several books including Violence and the Burden of Memory: Remembrance and Erasure in Sinhala Consciousness (2015), Warzone Tourism in Sri Lanka: Tales from Darker Places in Paradise (2016) and The Fear of the Visual? Photography, Anthropology and Anxieties of Seeing (2020). He has edited and co-edited various volumes including Sociology and Social Anthropology in South Asia: Histories and Practices (2018), Intersections of Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Art History in South Asia: Decoding Visual Worlds (2019), Against the Nation: Thinking Like South Asians (2019) and Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times (2022).