Disappearing Peoples?: Indigenous Groups and Ethnic Minorities in South and Central Asia

South and Central Asia is a region of extraordinary cultural and environmental diversity and home to nearly one-quarter of the earth's population. Among these diverse peoples are some whose ways of life are threatened by the accelerating assault of forces of change including environmental degradation, population growth, land loss, warfare, disease, and the penetration of global markets. This volume examines twelve groups whose way of life is endangered. Some are "indigenous" peoples, some are not; each group represents a unique answer to the question of how to survive and thrive on the planet earth, and illustrates both the threats and the responses of peoples caught up in the struggle to sustain cultural meaning, identity, and autonomy. Each chapter, written by an expert scholar for a general audience, offers a cultural overview, explores both threats to survival and the group's responses, and provokes discussion and further research with "food for thought."This powerful documentation of both tragedy and hope for the twenty-first-century survival of centuries-old cultures is a key reference for anyone interested in the region, in cultural survival, or in the interplay of diversification and homogenization.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Disappearing Peoples?, Barbara A. Brower, Barbara Rose Johnston; Chapter 2 The Raika of Rajasthan, India, Paul Robbins; Chapter 3 Peripatetic Peoples and Lifestyles in South Asia, Aparna Rao; Chapter 4 The Bhils, Judith Whitehead; Chapter 5 The Tharu of Chitwan, Nepal, Arjun Guneratne; Chapter 6 The Dom of Hunza (Northern Areas of Pakistan), Anna Schmid; Chapter 7 Peoples and Cultures of the Kashmir Himalayas, Aparna Rao, Michael J. Casimir; Chapter 8 The Hazara of Central Afghanistan, Grant Farr; Chapter 9 The Wakhi and Kirghiz of the Pamirian Knot, Hermann Kreutzmann; Chapter 10 The Badakshani of the Eastern Pamir, Tajikistan, Stephen F. Cunha; Chapter 11 The Lezghi, Julian Birch; Chapter 12 The People of Tibet, P. Christiaan Klieger; Chapter 13 The Minhe Mangghuer, Zhu Yongzhong, Kevin Stuart;

About the Author :
Edited by Brower, Barbara; Johnston, Barbara Rose

Review :
'Disappearing peoples? is a groundbreaking book that describes how economic globalization, imperialism, war, and climate change in the twenty-first century threaten various Asian people's cultural heritage and how they are striving to maintain their traditions and identity under such extreme pressures. This edited volume uses twelve chapters on specific peoples - the Raika of India, Tibetans in China and India, Hazara in Afghanistan, Mangghuer in China - to illustrate the strong Introduction, which explains the import of dwindling diversity on humankind. The book provides a good overview that should whet the reader's appetite for more knowledge about Asian peoples, the causes and consequences of cultural homogenization.' Paula L.W. Sabloff, University of Pennsylvania 'The issues impacting local indigenous peoples are covered in the outstanding edited volume by Barbara Brower and Barbara Rose Johnston. This book provides the perfect text for leading students through several varying case studies of contemporary impacts to indigenous peoples. Not only is the book culturally encompassing, but it is also geographically and ecologically diverse. As such, it should also be considered essential reading for anyone working in, or interested about, South and Central Asia and its indigenous peoples.' Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources