Africa and India have a long history of people-to-people contact, as well as cultural, educational and economic exchanges based on mutual interests. They also share imperial and post-imperial experiences. The longstanding relations between the two continents experienced a new twist and a giant leap forward following the Africa-India summit in 2008. However, recently a series of violent incidents against the growing sub-Saharan African communities in India has taken centre stage and made global news headlines: the Indian and international media have portrayed violent and deadly assaults on sub-Saharan Africans in India as prejudice, discrimination, and racism. This book provides a collection of studies that examine prejudice, discrimination, and racism towards Blackness in India with a special focus on the lived experiences of sub-Saharan Africans and Siddhis (Afro-Indians). In addition, the topics in this volume cover ideological, cultural, and linguistic affinities between Africa and India. The volume is divided into four parts of two chapters each: the first two chapters introduce the focus of the book on sub-Saharan Africans living in India. These are followed by two contributions that examine prejudice, discrimination, and racism towards Africans and Siddhis. Two further essays theorise prejudice and racism in India and the ways they are experienced by sub-Saharan Africans and Siddhis. The final two chapters of the book explore ideological, linguistic, and cultural affinities between India and Africa. The volume also features contributions by two prominent Africanists. The Foreword is written by Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne, the Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. Professor Diagne was awarded the Edouard Glissant Prize for his work in 2011 and the Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. The Afterword is authored by Professor Aparajita Biswas, the former Director of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Mumbai and the current President of the African Studies Association of India. Professor Biswas is one of India’s most respected Africanists with an extensive publication record on African topics and numerous teaching, research and fellowship positions in universities across the world.

Relations between Africans and Indians in India and in Africa is the subject of this book by Willie Molesi who is also the author of ”Relations Between Africans and Arabs: Harsh Realities,” and “Black Africa versus Arab North Africa: The Great Divide.” It includes documented cases of attacks on Africans in India and other incidents to help explain the complex nature of relations between Africans and Indians: How Africans and Indians interact with each other, why there are tensions and even outright hostility between them best demonstrated by attacks on African students and other Africans in India through the years, why this brutal treatment of Africans has not stopped, and why black people seem to be the primary target of this kind of hostility by Indians. The work is complemented by the author's perspective on this highly volatile subject to provide more insights into the matter derived from his firsthand knowledge of relations between Africans and Indians. He is a black African and writes from personal experience as well, in addition to the research he has done on the subject. He has known Indians – as much as he has Arabs – in Africa since childhood, has interacted with both as a customer at their business establishments, went to school with them and stayed with them in the same boarding house at a racially integrated school, and worked with them through the years. Therefore, he brings to this work a perspective that is not just a product of secondary sources to document the study but also of what he himself knows about both Indians and Arabs. He has also written about both providing penetrating insights into their relations with black Africans. The work is intended to address the problems that exist in relations between them and Africans and what can be done to solve those problems not only in a mutually acceptable way but also unilaterally by Africans taking drastic measures to secure their interests and well-being even if the steps they take may lead to severance of ties with them. African diplomats in India have already, collectively as representatives of African countries, issued a formal protest and warning to the Indian government that they would recommend to their governments to stop sending African students to India – and to take other measures – in order cut off other ties with India if nothing is done to effectively end the brutal treatment of Africans in that country. The author also proposes some countermeasures African countries can take to achieve this goal. Other Africans, including some professors and national leaders among them a Kenyan senator, have also proposed some countermeasures in pursuit of the same objective because of the brutal mistreatment of Africans by Indians in India and by Arabs in Arab countries. A Nigerian diplomat in India publicly warned of possible retaliation against Indians in Nigeria by Nigerians who could force them out of their homes and into the streets where they could face retaliation in the form of physical violence in the same way Africans do in India where they are also subjected to other forms of abuse and humiliation – verbally abused and spat on – as well as discrimination in housing, evicted for no reason, and overcharged for goods and services simply because they are African. Indian authorities have not seriously addressed the problem of brutal discrimination against Africans in India. Dark-skinned Indians also face discrimination by light-skinned Indians but not as much as Africans do. Even they, dark-skinned Indians, attack and discriminate against Africans. If the problem had to do with skin colour only, dark-skinned Indians would not be attacking Africans. They would be helping Africans. They don't. They are, instead, equally hostile against Africans and some times even more so, especially when some people mistakenly put them together with Africans as kith and kin because of the complexion they share. Therefore, the problem is more than skin-deep. But it can be contained even if it cannot be eliminated. Otherwise African countries may be forced to take effective countermeasures in retaliation but without resorting to violence, the author contends.

Winner of a NWSA/University of Illinois Press First Book Prize Nishant Upadhyay unravels Indian diasporic complicity in its ongoing colonialist relationship with Indigenous peoples, lands, and nations in Canada. Upadhyay examines the interwoven and simultaneous areas of dominant Indian caste complicity in processes of settler colonialism, antiblackness, capitalism, brahminical supremacy, Hindu nationalism, and heteropatriarchy. Resource extraction in British Columbia in the 1970s–90s and in present-day Alberta offer examples of spaces that illuminate the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and simultaneously reveal racialized, gendered, and casted labor formations. Upadhyay juxtaposes these extraction sites with examples of anticolonial activism and solidarities from Tkaronto. Analyzing silence on settler colonialism and brahminical caste supremacy, Upadhyay upends the idea of dominant caste Indian diasporas as racially victimized and shows that claiming victimhood denies a very real complicity in enforcing other power structures. Exploring stories of quotidian proximity and intimacy between Indigenous and South Asian communities, Upadhyay offers meditations on anticolonial and anti-casteist ways of knowledge production, ethical relationalities, and solidarities. Groundbreaking and ambitious, Indians on Indian Lands presents the case for holding Indian diasporas accountable for acts of violence within a colonial settler nation.

This is a survey of cult religious violence as associated with Jonestown, the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinriko, Montana Freemen, Solar Temple, Heaven's Gate and Chen Tao. The book presents case studies of contemporary millennial religions that either became violent, or had the potential for becoming violent. It sets out to reveal how outside pressures and internal forces affect the decision to use violence by new religious movements.

One of the most famous - yet least understood - manifestations of Thelemic thought has been the works of Kenneth Grant, the British occultist and one-time intimate of Aleister Crowley, who discovered a hidden world within the primary source materials of Crowley's Aeon of Horus. Using complementary texts from such disparate authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Jack Parsons, Austin Osman Spare, and Charles Stansfeld Jones ("Frater Achad"), Grant formulated a system of magic that expanded upon that delineated in the rituals of the OTO: a system that included elements of Tantra, of Voudon, and in particular that of the Schlangekraft recension of the Necronomicon, all woven together in a dark tapestry of power and illumination. The Dark Lord follows the themes in the writings of Kenneth Grant, H.P. Lovecraft, and the Necronomicon, uncovering further meanings of the concepts of the famous writers of the Left Hand Path. It is for Thelemites, as well as lovers of the Lovecraft Mythos in all its forms, and for those who find the rituals of classical ceremonial magic inadequate for the New Aeon. Traveling through the worlds of religion, literature, and the occult, Peter Levenda takes his readers on a deeply fascinating exploration on magic, evil, and The Dark Lord as he investigates of one of the most neglected theses in the history of modern occultism: the nature of the Typhonian Current and its relationship to Aleister Crowley's Thelema and H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon.

Weaving together personal stories, history, and analysis, Same Family, Different Colors explores the myriad ways skin-color politics affect family dynamics in the United States. Colorism and color bias—the preference for or presumed superiority of people based on the color of their skin—is a pervasive and damaging but rarely openly discussed phenomenon. In this unprecedented book, Lori L. Tharps explores the issue in African American, Latino, Asian American, and mixed-race families and communities by weaving together personal stories, history, and analysis. The result is a compelling portrait of the myriad ways skin-color politics affect family dynamics in the United States. Tharps, the mother of three mixed-race children with three distinct skin colors, uses her own family as a starting point to investigate how skin-color difference is dealt with. Her journey takes her across the country and into the lives of dozens of diverse individuals, all of whom have grappled with skin-color politics and speak candidly about experiences that sometimes scarred them. From a Latina woman who was told she couldn’t be in her best friend’s wedding photos because her dark skin would “spoil” the pictures, to a light-skinned African American man who spent his entire childhood “trying to be Black,” Tharps illuminates the complex and multifaceted ways that colorism affects our self-esteem and shapes our lives and relationships. Along with intimate and revealing stories, Tharps adds a historical overview and a contemporary cultural critique to contextualize how various communities and individuals navigate skin-color politics. Groundbreaking and urgent, Same Family, Different Colors is a solution-seeking journey to the heart of identity politics, so that this more subtle “cousin to racism,” in the author’s words, will be exposed and confronted.

Despite Georges Bataille’s acknowledged influence on major poststructuralist thinkers—including Foucault, Derrida, Kristeva, Lacan, Baudrillard, and Barthes—and his prominence in literary, cultural, and social theory, rarely has he been taken up by scholars of religion, even as issues of the sacred were central to his thinking. Bringing together established scholars and emerging voices, Negative Ecstasies engages Bataille from the perspective of religious studies and theology, forging links with feminist and queer theory, economics, secularism, psychoanalysis, fat studies, and ethics. As these essays demonstrate, Bataille’s work bears significance to contemporary questions in the academy and vital issues in the world. We continue to ignore him at our peril.

"What are the issues that impact the lives of Black Europeans and people of African descent in Europe? What are their experiences, and which specific stereotypes and prejudice do they face? Evidence suggests that there continues to be a lack of knowledge about people of African descent in Europe and Black Europeans, ranging from present day experiences to historical issues that have impacted their lives. This collection of papers - a mix of academic writing, policy related issues, and accounts of practical experiences - is a unique contribution to remedy this lack of knowledge. It aims to raise awareness of Europe's Black population, their histories and contributions, and prescriptions to long-standing racial issues. The publication offers an overview of who Black Europeans are, and how they are viewed and subsequently treated across Europe, as well as their experiences and political actions in selected national contexts. It also provides in-depth discussions on European-wide pervasive issues for people of African descent, from racial profiling and hate crimes to poor health outcomes, including strategies for addressing these problems"--Back cover.

Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present provides a concise and authoritative overview of the development of Western literary criticism and theory from the Classical period to the present day An indispensable and intellectually stimulating introduction to the history of literary criticism and theory Introduces the major movements, figures, and texts of literary criticism Provides historical context and shows the interconnections between various theories An ideal text for all students of literature and criticism

This important book presents systematic evidence of the incidence and extent of the practice of untouchability in contemporary India. It is based on the results of a very large survey covering 560 villages in eleven states. The field data is supplemented by information concerning associated forms of discrimination which Dalits face in their daily lives./-//-/This study finds that untouchability is practised in one form or another in almost 80 per cent of the villages surveyed. It is most prevalent in the religious and personal spheres. While the evidence presented in this book suggests that the more blatant and extreme forms of untouchability appear to have declined, discrimination is still practised in one form or another. The most widespread manifestations are in access to water and to cremation or burial grounds, as also when it comes to the major life cycle rituals. The survey also found that the notion of untouchability continues to pervade the public sphere, including in a host of state institutions and the interactions that occur within them.