New Books Network

How did modern territoriality emerge and what are its consequences? From Frontiers to Borders: How Colonial Technicians Created Modern Territoriality (Cambridge UP, 2025) examines these key questions with a unique global perspective. Kerry Goettlich argues that linear boundaries are products of particular colonial encounters, rather than being essentially an intra-European practice artificially imposed on colonized regions. He reconceptualizes modern territoriality as a phenomenon separate from sovereignty and the state, based on expert practices of delimitation and demarcation. Its history stems from the social production of expertise oriented towards these practices. Employing both primary and secondary sources, From Frontiers to Borders examines how this expertise emerged in settler colonies in North America and in British India – cases which illuminate a range of different types of colonial rule and influence. It also explores some of the consequences of the globalization of modern territoriality, exposing the colonial origins of Boundary Studies, and the impact of boundary experts on the Paris Peace Conference of 1919–20. Dr Kerry Goettlich is an International Relations scholar whose work draws on original historical research to reframe theoretical debates about international politics, particularly around issues of territory and borders. His current work deals with the history of the legal and moral prohibition of territorial conquest. He is an associate professor at City St George's, University of London. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Today we are joined by Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui, author of The Making of Global FIFA: Cold War Politics and the Rise of João Havelange to the FIFA Presidency, 1950-1974 (De Gruyter, 2023). This book was previously published in Portuguese as A Dança das Cadeiras a eleição de João Havelange à presidenência da FIFA (1950-1974). In our conversation, we discussed João Havelange’s rise to FIFA’s presidency, how the FIFA leader crafted his own legacy, and the difficulties of publishing work in translation. In The Making of Global FIFA, Burlamaqui argues that while Havelange was the FIFA president that signed the first deal with Coca Cola, his election was not a radical departure from “pure” football into commercialization. Far from a tale of British stiffness and Brazilian flexibility, Burlamaqui shows a longer and interconnected history of FIFA’s global expansion. Former FIFA president Stanley Rous was less conservative than critics alleged. Havelange was more conservative than many assumed, happy to work with entrenched forces across the political and sporting worlds. Burlamaqui conducted extensive archival research in Brazil, the UK, and at FIFA and the IOC in Switzerland. His compelling argument demonstrates the contingency of Havelange’s rise. His success was tied intimately to the domestic politics of the military regime and diplomatic efforts of Brazil in the 1970s. He was also the beneficiary of global forces: the Cold War, decolonization, and the growing resistance to racial oppression. Unlike many other sports scholars, Burlamaqui also argues that what happened on the field mattered: Havelange relied on the field prowess of the seleção. The book proceeds chronologically. The first chapter shines a new light on FIFA President Stanley Rous. Rous steered FIFA from the middle – between the conservatism of Swiss Ernst Thommen and the radicalism of the Yugoslavian Mihailo Andrejevic. Burlamaqui thus characterizes Rous’ tenure as setting the stage for Havelange’s globalization. Chapters 2 and 3 offer biographical examinations of Havelange and situate his personal history into the broader story of Brazil and the globe. His rise in Brazil’s sportocracy was not simple: he served on both the Brazilian Olympic Committee and the Brazilian Sports Confederation. In the latter, he was heavily criticized for Brazil’s failure at the 1966 World Cup. Yet Havelange benefitted from the interplay between the Brazilian business and military communities during the military regime (1964-1985). In preparation for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Havelange developed a “Mexico Plan” and gambled his success on a seleção victory. When the national team delivered and raised the Jules Rimet for the third time, Havelange cemented his position. Chapter 4 is the crux of the book, where Burlamaqui shows how decolonization, ideas about development, and the myth of Brazilian racial equality intersected to make the Brazilain sportocrat a strong candidate for FIFA’s 1974 Presidential election. Havelange campaigned with the support of his allies at home and abroad. He sold a particular vision of Brazil: a model of developed decolonization that was charting a third path between the United States and the Soviet Union. He appealed especially to FIFA officials from the “Third World”, sending emissaries to Africa and Asia, and even allegedly helping to pay off some of their FIFA dues to win their votes. In chapter 5, Burlamaqui explains who voted for Havelange. Havelange mobilized support from new FIFA countries, benefiting from the rise of China, the support of the communist bloc, and the disunity of Europe. Burlamaqui’s deeply researched and convincing account opens new avenues for research into sports bureaucrats. The Making of Global FIFA: Cold War Politics and the Rise of João Havelange to the FIFA Presidency, 1950-1974 will be of interest to scholars interested in global football, FIFA, and sports diplomacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage in Kerala, India explores the extraordinary past and present of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater, the world's oldest continuously performed theater. Recognized as India's first UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the matrilineal temple art of Kutiyattam has been performed by men and women in Kerala, India, since the tenth century C.E. This book illustrates how Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater has encountered multiple forms of cosmopolitanism over the course of its thousand-year history. Exploring how Kutiyattam artists create meaning out of their deep past through everyday narratives and reflections, author Leah Lowthorp traces the art's cosmopolitan encounters over time, from the premodern Sanskrit cosmopolis to Muslim sultans, British colonialists, Communist politics, and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In so doing, Lowthorp fundamentally rethinks the notion of cosmopolitanism from a non-Western perspective with premodern roots and offers a critique of the colonialist undertones of how international heritage organizations like UNESCO conceptualize peoples and traditions around the world. Diving into an ethnographic exploration that considers Kutiyattam's multiple cosmopolitanisms over a period of one thousand years, Deep Cosmopolitanism offers a model for decolonizing modernity and challenges us to rethink what it means to be cosmopolitan, traditional, and modern in the world today. Indiana University Press generiously make this book freely available as an Open Access monograph. To read, please visit here. Leah Lowthorp is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is a cultural anthropologist and a folklorist. She is editor (with Frank J. Korom) of South Asian Folklore in Transition: Crafting New Horizons (Routledge, 2019). Her email address is [email protected]. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, critical development studies, and the anthropology of time. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Sweet potatoes were among the American crops Christopher Columbus brought back to Europe—where they were thought to be an aphrodisiac. In China, this versatile root became a staple that fueled rapid population growth. Introduced to Japan to stave off famine, sweet potatoes later sustained the country’s imperial expansion. Because this hardy plant can thrive in almost any soil, it has long been cultivated as a subsistence crop in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Oceania. In recent years, Western health experts have begun touting the humble sweet potato as a “superfood” with numerous nutritional benefits. Considering these events and many others, Staple to Superfood: A Global History of the Sweet Potato (Columbia UP, 2025) explores the sweet potato’s rich history and remarkable global influence. Dr. Q. Edward Wang demonstrates how this resilient root has not only nourished communities but also defined their identities. Tracing its journeys through the intricate networks of global trade and cultural exchange, he shows how the sweet potato transformed agricultural practices, culinary traditions, and social structures worldwide. From the Americas to Europe to Asia and the Pacific, the spread of this crop illuminates the varied paths that global development has taken. Dr. Wang also contrasts the sweet potato with its botanically unrelated namesake, the white potato. Blending agricultural, cultural, and historical perspectives, Staple to Superfood offers a fresh look at the power of food to transform societies. It is a compelling exploration of how the sweet potato shaped the modern world and continues to influence global food systems today. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Empire of Print: Evangelical Power in an Age of Mass Media (Oxford UP, 2025) offers a fresh account of evangelical power by uncovering how the American Tract Society (ATS) leveraged print media to spread its message across an expanding nation. One of the era's largest media corporations and a pillar of the benevolent empire, the ATS circulated some 5.6 billion printed pages between its founding in 1825 and the eve of the Civil War. It wasn't just the volume of materials that mattered—it was the sophisticated media infrastructure that evangelicals developed for their message to reach readers, coast to coast. Media infrastructure refers to the material assemblages that work below the surface of media content, including the format of publications, the avenues of their movement, and the circumstances surrounding their reading. As a non-coercive yet effective form of power, infrastructure shaped how, when, and why readers engaged with evangelical texts. While showing how the ATS became a formidable force in American society during the nineteenth century, Empire of Print opens larger questions about the entanglements among people, things, texts, and institutions, the dynamics of power in a media-saturated world, and the salience of race, class, and region in the distribution and reception of media. Sonia Hazard is an assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Florida State University. This episode’s host, Jacob Barrett, is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Religion and Culture track. For more information, visit his website here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network