{"product_id":"poverty-and-the-quest-for-bhrigupati-singh-9780226194547","title":"Poverty and the Quest for Life: Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India","description":"\u003cp\u003e The Indian subdistrict of Shahabad, located in the dwindling forests of the southeastern tip of Rajasthan, is an area of extreme poverty. Beset by droughts and food shortages in recent years, it is the home of the Sahariyas, former bonded laborers, officially classified as Rajasthan's only \"primitive tribe.\" From afar, we might consider this the bleakest of the bleak, but in \u003ci\u003ePoverty and the Quest for Life\u003c\/i\u003e, Bhrigupati Singh asks us to reconsider just what quality of life means. He shows how the Sahariyas conceive of aspiration, advancement, and vitality in both material and spiritual terms, and how such bridging can engender new possibilities of life. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Singh organizes his study around two themes: power and ethics, through which he explores a complex terrain of material and spiritual forces. Authority remains contested, whether in divine or human forms; the state is both despised and desired; high and low castes negotiate new ways of living together, in conflict but also cooperation; new gods move across rival social groups; animals and plants leave their tracks on human subjectivity and religiosity; and the potential for vitality persists even as natural resources steadily disappear. Studying this milieu, Singh offers new ways of thinking beyond the religion-secularism and nature-culture dichotomies, juxtaposing questions about quality of life with political theologies of sovereignty, neighborliness, and ethics, in the process painting a rich portrait of perseverance and fragility in contemporary rural India. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Bhrigupati Singh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022619454X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226194547\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/06\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.08lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.79h x 6.49w x 0.80d","brand":"Bhrigupati Singh","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44056652939519,"sku":"9780226194547","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_57d381b7-14ca-4b5c-b993-24ac76973bcc.jpg?v=1685042516","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/poverty-and-the-quest-for-bhrigupati-singh-9780226194547","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}