Asia Inside Out: Connected Places is part of an ambitious transregional research project spearheaded by editors, Tagliacozzo, Siu, and Perdue. A companion work, Asia Inside Out: Changing Times, has already been released, and a third volume is forthcoming. This larger initiative seeks to map new geographical and chronological foundations for the study of Asia that eschew conventional regionalization schemes, avoid state-centered narratives, and challenge linear notions of historical development.
The results are promising. The thirteen chapters in Connected Places portray familiar locations in a new light while highlighting the significance of otherwise obscure peoples and places. The spatial and temporal scope is broad, with topics ranging from marriage laws in Oman to economic developments in Korea, and from the fourteenth-century Indian Ocean horse trade to the twenty-first-century dissemination of popular culture. Many chapters gain vitality from mini-biographies and other stories of individual actors. Throughout the volume, analysis and narrative...