A Maldivian Dictionary

Maldivian (also known as Divehi) is spoken on the Maldive Islands located off the southwest tip of India in the Indian Ocean. This Maldivian-English Dictionary consists of 5000 individual entries.

Thanks to its emerging markets, nuclearization and the internet revolution, South Asia is increasingly at the forefront of current affairs. This invaluable reference source seeks to make the region accessible to business travellers as well as to the general reader. The range of subjects to be covered includes major political processes and events of South Asia (elections and electoral politics, political slang, political parties, diplomacy and territorial divisions), domestic and foreign policy, key personalities, political and economic institutions, sub-national groupings and units (regions, cities, provinces and rural entities), ethnicity and identity, and legal systems (laws and court cases). Key features: * Terms, which are frequently misunderstood in the political and economic processes of South Asia, are explained clearly and succinctly * More than 1,000 entries, covering the key debates, issues, concepts and institutions. Entries include: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Caste System, Corruption, dalits, Electoral System, Federalism, Hindu-Muslim relation, India-US Relation, Kashmir, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Nuclearization, Privatization, Reserve Bank of India, Sikh, Untouchability, Urbanization, Atal Behari Vajpayee. Countries covered in this volume include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

An innovative collection of essays that foregrounds specific cargoes as a means to understand connectivity and mobility across the Indian Ocean world. Scholars have long appreciated the centrality of trade and commerce in understanding the connectivity and mobility that underpin human experience in the Indian Ocean region. But studies of merchant and commercial activities have paid little attention to the role that cargoes have played in connecting the disparate parts of this vast oceanic world. Drawing from the work of anthropologists, geographers, and historians, Cargoes in Motion tells the story of how material objects have informed and continue to shape processes of exchange across the Indian Ocean. By following selected cargoes through both space and time, this book makes an important and innovative contribution to Indian Ocean studies. The multidisciplinary approach deepens our understanding of the nature and dynamics of the Indian Ocean world by showing how transoceanic connectivity has been driven not only by economic, social, cultural, and political factors but also by the materiality of the objects themselves. Essays by: Edward A. Alpers Fahad Ahmad Bishara Eva-Maria Knoll Karl-Heinz Kohl Lisa Jenny Krieg Pedro Machado Rupert Neuhöfer Mareike Pampus Hannah Pilgrim Burkhard Schnepel Hanne Schönig Tansen Sen Steven Serels Julia Verne Kunbing Xiao

“For readers interested in international relations, politics, and global issues.” -Library Journal, Starred Review The Historical Dictionary of Modern Coups d’état surveys the history of coups d’état in the post-World War II period. The term “modern” in the title therefore demarcates the period since January 1946. This book documents over 582 coup attempts that have occurred in 108 different countries worldwide over a period of 75 years. Historical Dictionary of Modern Coups d'état contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 1,400 cross-referenced dictionary entries. This book is an excellent resource for students, and researchers.

In this ethnographic examination of women’s mosques in the Maldives, anthropologist Jacqueline H. Fewkes probes how the existence of these separate buildings—where women lead prayers for other women—intersect with larger questions about gender, space, and global Muslim communities. Bringing together ethnographic insight with historical accounts, this volume develops an understanding of the particular religious and cultural trends in the Maldives that have given rise to these unique socio-religious institutions. As Fewkes considers women’s spaces in the Maldives as a practice apart from contemporary global Islamic customs, she interrogates the intersections between local, national, and transnational communities in the development of Islamic spaces, linking together the role of nations in the formation of Muslim social spaces with transnational conceptualizations of Islamic gendered spaces. Using the Maldivian women’s mosque as a starting point, this book addresses the roles of both the nation and the global Muslim ummah in locating gendered spaces within discourses about gender and Islam.

‘Rich and valuable’ ANJAN SUNDARAM ‘Honest ... written in sharp, rippling prose’ ANDREW FIDEL FERNANDO ‘A brave and timely effort’ JASON BURKE ‘Immersive and eye-opening’ HASSAN UGAIL ‘A moving, personal and heartfelt tale of the real Maldives: far deeper and more sinister waters than the azure lagoons of the resorts for which it is famed’ JJ ROBINSON In the autumn of 2011, the postman-turned-journalist Daniel Bosley embarked on an unexpected adventure which started as an internship in London’s Maldives High Commission – the diplomatic mission of the Indian Ocean tourism hotspot. Little did he know that he would soon set off on an odyssey through an imperilled island nation undergoing one of the most tumultuous periods in its history. Over the next seven years, Bosley worked as a journalist in the Maldives, reporting on its volatile political landscape and shattering the picture-perfect view of this supposed paradise. Taking us into a nation of a thousand isles, he reveals a shaded past of sultans, imperialists and Western explorers before a modern-day dictatorship was finally overturned by a democracy that immediately plunged into turmoil. While dissenters and intrepid reporters faced abduction, imprisonment, and even death, the climate crisis and Islamist zealots posed ever greater threats to the country’s vulnerable environment and its ancient culture. As the editor of the Maldives’ main English-language news website, Bosley witnessed some of these events first-hand, his personal distress assuaged only by the love and hope he would come to find – against all odds – within these isolated atoll communities. Richly observed and infused with empathy and essential humour, Descent into Paradise thoroughly alters our understanding of the Maldives, a place where magical waters and surreal skies hide unthinkable dangers even as the struggle for justice risks submersion.