Try, my beloved country

In South Asia, millions live on the margins of society. With rampant poverty, hunger, child malnutrition, corruption, illiteracy and huge socio-economic schisms between the empowered and impoverished – the problems seem almost too enormous to overcome. Not for this lot though. This densely populated geographical region is awash with heart-warming examples of grassroots activism – men and women who "continuously wrestle with tensions between the tidy boxes of official classifications and the fuzzy categories of everyday life", striving to improve the world around them.

"Varieties of Activist Experience" has contributors from all round the world. It uses case studies to try and compare and contrast the methods and strategies of activists in four South Asian countries – India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.It is a challenging read but offers insights into the nature of civic activism and what it can do to further political, social and environmental causes.

Stefanie Strulik's chapter on female activism in Indian villages is noteworthy. In her study of whether or not women can be mobilized to participate in Indian local politics, Strulik argues that stereotypes of female incompetence and meekness contribute tremendously to the scarcity of women in village politics. But Strulik, who teaches social anthropology in Zurich, also acknowledges that there are other, distinctly Indian factors, such as caste, and devotion to family. Strulik's argument evolves and the chapter eventually concludes that the checks on female political power in rural India are not merely situational but deeply rooted in culture.

The book's 10 chapters also explore village dynamics in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is probably a mistake to focus only on villages because what emerges is a fairly incomplete picture of "civil society." Additionally, despite close examination and extensive research, the chapter "Surveying Activists in Nepal" by David N Gellner and Mrigendra Babahdur Karki fails to offer a satisfactory conclusion based
on findings.

The book leaves the audience with more questions than answers. For those who find comfort in statistics, the charts and surveys provide hard facts to establish a case. But the book falls short in terms of creative observation – it provokes the reader's curiosity but fails to satisfy it.