Of love and family, raves and Kafka
In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, 19-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist.
Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila
Of love and family, raves and Kafka
In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, 19-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist.
Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American writer whose fading literary celebrity opens her eyes to a life of personal and artistic freedom. But as Nila finds herself pulled further into Marlowe’s controlling orbit, ugly, barely submerged racial tensions begin to roil Germany — and Nila’s family and community. After a year of running from her future, Nila stops to ask herself the most important question: Who does she want to be?
A story of love and family, raves and Kafka, staying up all night and surviving the mistakes of youth, Good Girl has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Looking for what works
The battle against global poverty that began after World War II was a major undertaking engaging economists, engineers, and organizations. Featuring front and centre were six remarkable economists: Amartya Sen, Manmohan Singh, Mahbub ul Haq, Jagdish Bhagwati, Rehman Sobhan, and Lal Jayawardena, all born as colonial subjects in the British Empire and studied at Cambridge University. They represented a new figure on the world scene — the Third World development expert — and played a crucial role in global debates about poverty and development.
Apostles of Development examines their different economic doctrines and the ongoing debate surrounding economic theory in poor countries compared to rich ones. The lives of these apostles reveal how development did not begin with textbooks but with real-world attempts to solve very specific and pressing problems. Finally, the book emphasizes that development was a Global South project first and foremost, aiming to improve the conditions of the world’s poorest countries.
It challenges the conventional wisdom that sees development only as a tool of rich countries to dominate, or as proof of their humanitarian spirit. It argues that development succeeds not when it follows ideological prescriptions, but when it looks for what works. The fading of grand visions shaped by ideological concerns has been one of the lasting effects of the end of the Cold War. The book argues that the best way forward is determined modesty, focusing on practical matters, such as addressing gross inequality and insisting that development means more than just economic growth. Given the salience of questions of economic inequality and the constant visibility of the promises and problems of economic development in the world today, this is a timely and important read.
Extending the visual arts
The essays in this volume examine the elements that shape gameplay and game spaces, including camera angles, scenography, character design and the stylistic choices artists and designers make with regard to rendering techniques. They define a game’s visual identity and affective impact. Some games, however, are about art itself and its role in shaping cultural and social narratives. The Palace on the Hill follows a boy who discovers ancient ruins near his village and embarks on an exploration of Pahari painting traditions, learning to paint in those styles. Raji, on the other hand, integrates South Asian and Balinese myths, artistic influences, including shadow puppetry, into its scenography and narrative. The Indian gaming industry employs artists trained in various painting traditions, who bring their diverse disciplinary backgrounds and cultural influences to bear upon game design. This issue of Marg looks at how, reimagined through digital media, video games extend the visual arts – expanding established modes of spectatorship and the discourse of art. *
*All copy from book flap.
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