Category Archive: New book announcement

New Book Announcement: “Anarchy of the Body: Undercurrents of Performance Art in 1960s Japan” by KuroDalaiJee
Anarchy of the Body: Undercurrents of Performance Art in 1960s Japan, KuroDalaiJee (Leuven University Press, February 2023)
Anarchy of the Body: Undercurrents of Performance Art in 1960s Japan, KuroDalaiJee (Leuven University Press, February 2023)

In Anarchy of the Body, art historian KuroDalaiJee sheds light on vital pieces of postwar Japanese avant-garde history by contextualizing the social, cultural, and political trajectories of artists across Japan in the 1960s. A culmination of years of research, Anarchy of the Body draws on an extensive breadth of source material to reveal how the practice of performance by individual artists and art groups during this period formed a legacy of resistance against institutionalization, both within the art world and more broadly in Japanese society.

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New Book Announcement: “The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University” by Daniel A Bell
The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University, Daniel A Bell (Princeton University Press, March 2023)
The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University, Daniel A Bell (Princeton University Press, March 2023)

On 1 January 2017, Daniel Bell was appointed dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University—the first foreign dean of a political science faculty in mainland China’s history. In The Dean of Shandong, Bell chronicles his experiences as what he calls “a minor bureaucrat”, offering an inside account of the workings of Chinese academia and what they reveal about China’s political system. It wasn’t all smooth sailing—Bell wryly recounts sporadic bungles and misunderstandings—but Bell’s post as dean provides a unique vantage point on China today.

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New Book Announcement: “History of Japanese Art after 1945: Institutions, Discourse, Practice” by Kitazawa Noriaki, Kuresawa Takemi and Mitsuda Yuri
History of Japanese Art after 1945: Institutions, Discourse, Practice, Kitazawa Noriaki, Kuresawa Takemi, Mitsuda Yuri (euven University Press, February 2023)
History of Japanese Art after 1945: Institutions, Discourse, Practice, Kitazawa Noriaki, Kuresawa Takemi, Mitsuda Yuri (Leuven University Press, February 2023)

History of Japanese Art after 1945 surveys the development of art in Japan since WWII. The original Japanese work, which has become essential reading for those with an interest in modern and contemporary Japanese art and is a foundational resource for students and researchers, spans a period of 150 years, from the 1850s to the 2010s. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific period and written by a specialist.

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New Book Annoucement: “Rethinking Community in Myanmar: Practices of We-Formation among Muslims and Hindus in Urban Yangon” by Judith Beyer
Rethinking Community in Myanmar: Practices of We-Formation among Muslims and Hindus in Urban Yangon, Judith Beyer (NIAS Press, February 2023)
Rethinking Community in Myanmar: Practices of We-Formation among Muslims and Hindus in Urban Yangon, Judith Beyer (NIAS Press, February 2023)

In this first anthropological study of Muslim and Hindu lives in urban Myanmar today, Beyer develops the concept of ‘we-formation’ to demonstrate that individuals are always more than members of wider groups. ‘We-formation’ complements her rich political, legal and historical analysis of ‘community’, a term used by Beyer’s interlocutors themselves, even as it reinforces ethno-religious stereotypes and their own minority status.

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New Book Announcement: “The Precious Summary: A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty”
The Precious Summary: A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty, Sagang Sechen, Johan Elverskog (trans) (Columbia University Press, March 2023)
The Precious Summary: A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty, Sagang Sechen, Johan Elverskog (trans) (Columbia University Press, March 2023)

The Mongols, their khans, and the empire they built and ruled in the 13th and 14th centuries exert an enduring fascination. Caricatured as a marauding horde that ravaged surrounding peoples, in reality the Mongols created institutions, trading networks, economic systems, and intellectual and technological exchanges that shaped the early modern world. However, the centuries after the waning of Mongol power remain overlooked in comparison to the days of Chinggis Khan.

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