000			01939nam a22001937a 4500
999			_c37722 _d37722
020			_a9781787383975
041			_aEnglish.
082			_a625.70954 _bSIM-H
100			_aSimpson, Edward _eAuthor.
245			_aHighways to the End of the World: _bRoads, Roadmen and Power in South Asia / _cEdward Simpson
260			_aLondon: _bHurst, _c2022.
300			_avii, 352p.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aThis book argues that road-building was naturalised in the twentieth century to the point of common sense, integrating roadbuilding into a system of climate change denial hidden within a broad international development imperative. But if we can ‘read’ South Asian roads as forms of governance and knowledge, we can challenge the region’s established geopolitical narratives, and the idea of a never-ending future. Highways to the End of the World explores the political economy of these ideas by focusing on the history of this phenomenon, and on the road-builders of South Asia themselves. How do these flamboyant and controversial ‘roadmen’ think about their work and the future of the planet? What do roads do, and why? And how did they become central to the region’s nationalist and developmental projects in the first place? Simpson’s fascinating ethnographic account takes us from fume-filled toll booths in the heart of India, via overworked government offices in Pakistan, to pharaonic bridges in the Indian Ocean. Simpson follows the money, explores the politics of evidence, and argues against the utopian hyperbole of present-day ‘road talk’, finding both humanitarian crises and freewheeling international capital in the hedgerows. Roads have never been so interesting, or so controversial.
546			_aEnglish.
650			_aRoad construction workers _xRoads--Economic aspects
650			_aRoads--Environmental aspects _zSouth Asia.
942			_2ddc _cBK