Book Review: Anita Sengupta and Suchandana Chatterjee, eds, Demography and Migration in Asia: Issues and Trends
| DOI | 10.1177/0973598414524122 |
| Date | 01 June 2013 |
| Author | Maitrayee Guha |
| Published date | 01 June 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
138 Book Reviews
Jadavpur Journal of International Relations, 17, 1 (2013): 129–152
the reader through a journey which advances on its own by questioning
the myths and unveiling the truth. This work merits a significant position
because of its approach. The author’s uniqueness lay in her double
pronged technique of contextualizing China’s aid policy on the one hand
thereby compelling one to gain a perspective upon China’s practices and
confronting each myth with a micro level analysis with the help of her
huge trove of data. The intensity and extent of the field work that Deborah
Brautigam has undertaken over the years speak for themselves from the
pages of the book. The exercise of historicizing China’s aid policy natu-
rally leads the reader to the fundamental points of difference which exist
between the Chinese ways of aiding and those adopted by the West which
forms another contributing factor behind the propagation of myths.
On a cautious note, the author not having completely washed away
the claims that the myths hold against China’s practices holds out too
much optimism on the imminent change of practices in China. Any work
of this nature is bound to suffer from a natural constraint of deciding
conclusively whether China is a threat or not. Deborah Brautigam takes
upon the challenge of questioning the myths shrouding China’s practices
and unveiling the truth instead which leads one backward to the basic
question regarding rising China’s designs. Whether rising China, her
intents, purposes and practices form a threat to the world or not is the
question that acts as an analytical constraint upon the mind of the author
which gets reflected in the pages of the book.
Mousumi Dasgupta
Assistant Professor, Victoria College
Kolkata, India
Anita Sengupta and Suchandana Chatterjee, eds, Demography and
Migration in Asia: Issues and Trends. Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2011,
pp. 175. Rs 550.
DOI: 10.1177/0973598414524122
This edited book is about the trends in migration in two parts of the
same continent, namely Eurasia and South Asia. As the name of the book
suggests, it is a compilation of work done on how demography and
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