Book Review: Biswajit Nag, My World with Rafiki: An Economic Travelogue and Miscellany
| Author | Sejuti Jha |
| Published date | 01 November 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0015732516650822 |
| Date | 01 November 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
346 Book Reviews
a very relevant but often overlooked aspect of culture. Tourism and education are
presented as the forerunners to bring about greater cultural interaction for
ASEAN–India integration.
On the whole, the report is a fair forecast on the future of emerging partnership
between India and ASEAN to leverage each other’s strength. The overall theme
highlights the immense potential of deeper ASEAN–India integration, but not
merely in terms of the economic integration; the author envisages the synergy to
be multi-faceted to include energy, science, food security and cultural exchange.
The findings from the report should be beneficial to policy-makers and stakehold-
ers in trade negotiations alike.
Amrita Saha
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Brighton
Biswajit Nag, My World with Rafiki: An Economic Travelogue and
Miscellany. Gurgaon: Partridge India, 2014, `399, 138 pp. ISBN 978-1-
4828-3673-8.
DOI: 10.1177/0015732516650822
This is a book filled with stories from across the world, based on observations
from teaching and travel experiences of the author. Rafiki means ‘friend’ in the
Kiswahili (Swahili) language, spoken by people of eastern and central Africa.
The author, through his extensive travels, has come to the observation that
knowing a country is through knowing its people, who become friends. The
author has met many Rafikis in his travels and in his classroom, and he has
exchanged with them views, observations and experiences on the socio-economic
discourse. My World with Rafiki is based on the author ’s interactions with his
many friends in the classroom and around the globe. The author has carefully
sieved through his many years of travels and teaching, and has shared with the
readers his insights and understanding of various economies through this 138
page long economic travelogue.
This book provides glimpses of interesting facets on the world’s emerging
markets. It is arranged in three sections. The first section is on culture, perception
and softer issues. This section is divided in three chapters discussing brand value,
culture and food. The chapters are based on the author’s observations while trav-
elling through France, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Italy and Asia. In the first
chapter, ‘Brand Value: Do Economists Understand Marketing Jargon’ the discus-
sion is around how we perceive a product/service and what value we attribute to
it. The author states that communication from the seller to the buyer on product/
service quality (Apple products) or uniqueness (‘air of Paris in a balloon’ or
‘crowded traditional bazaar’ for foreign tourists) plays an important role in creat-
ing brand value for a product or a service in a consumer’s mind. The second
chapter details a study on Italy, the narrative focus being on its fashion industry.
The chapter on food and culture (Chapter 3) talks of the basic premise that they
To continue reading
Request your trial