Babb: Emerald City

Babb, Lawrence A.
Emerald City : the Birth and Evolution of an Indian Gemstone Industry / Lawrence A. Babb. - Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, 2013. - xi, 220 S. : Ill., Kt.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4587-8
US$ 80,00 (Hardcover)
-- Bereits erschienen --
ISBN 978-1-4384-4586-1
US$ 26,95 (Paperback)
-- angekündigt für Januar 2014 --
ISBN 978-1-4384-4588-5
US$ 80,00 (eBook)
DDC: 338.27809544

Beschreibung
Lawrence A. Babb’s Emerald City provides an intriguing portrait of the gemstone cutting industry of the North Indian city of Jaipur. It focuses on the ownership class consisting mainly of Jains and members of northern India’s traditional trading communities. Based on oral-historical investigations of family firms, along with ethnographic observations and interviews, the book describes how the industry is organized, when and how it developed its characteristic features, and its evolving relationship with its social context. Babb pays special attention to the impact of culture on the business, with particular emphasis on the role of religion, specifically Jainism. He also offers a systematic comparison between Jaipur’s gemstone business and New York City’s famed diamond industry. In its application of ethnographic methodology to the study of an indigenous Indian industry, Emerald City delivers a unique perspective on business life in a non-Western setting.

Inhalt
List of Illustrations. vii
Acknowledgments. ix
Note on Transliteration. xi
1. Introduction. 1
2. Dramatis Personae: Industrial Multiculturalism. 19
3. The Rise of the Emerald Elite. 49
4. Doing Business. 85
5. Contexts. 115
6. The Decline of the Emerald Elite. 149
7. Conclusion. 177
Notes. 195
References. 201
Index. 205

Vorschau

Autor
LAWRENCE A. BABB is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Amherst College. He is the author of several books, including Alchemies of Violence: Myths of Identity and the Life of Trade in Western India and (with John E. Cort and Michael W. Meister) Desert Temples: Sacred Centers of Rajasthan in Historical, Art-Historical, and Social Context. Profile page.

Quellen: SUNY Press; WorldCat; Bookbutler; Amazon; Google Books; Library of Congress
Bildquelle: SUNY Press
Bibliographie: [1]

References