2026. Infrastructures of Democracy: Politics and Processes of Road Building in Rural Nepal. Edited by Katharine N. Rankin, Sara Shneiderman, Mukta S. Tamang. Kathmandu: Martin Chautari Press. With chapters by Pushpa Hamal, Shyam Kunwar, Lagan Rai, Tulasi Sharan Sigdel, and an Afterword by Elsie Lewison. “Infrastructures of Democracy is a vivid and original set of studies showing how Nepal’s rural roads are more than infrastructure—they are contested terrains of politics, power, and everyday life. Sensitive to local voices and vernaculars, the authors rethink development and open new pathways towards imagining the possibilities of a just society.” — Edward Simpson, Lancaster University “A collaborative endeavor of Canada and Nepal-based academics, Infrastructures of Democracy is an important ethnographic volume on the roads of Nepal, written in a lucid and evocative style. Moving away from mega-roads and highways, this book scales locally to district and agricultural roads, focusing attention on the agentive role of rural roads in shaping both statecraft and political subjectivity.” — Swargajyoti Gohain, Ashoka University “Infrastructures of Democracy is useful for understanding how the planning and implementation of different modalities of road construction in rural Nepal take place. It is fascinating to read how formal and informal planning for district roads is shaped by the power and influence of political parties eventually leading to burdens for the marginalized people, high levels of corruption among those involved in the nexus, and poor quality of roads. It gives hints to how social justice can be promoted in road building.” — Jagannath Adhikari, Author of Food Crisis in Karnali Available in Kathmandu bookstores, or order online from Vajra Books |
 s 2018. Darjeeling Reconsidered: Histories, Politics, Environments. Edited by Townsend Middleton and Sara Shneiderman. Oxford University Press.
“Darjeeling Reconsidered is an essential and timely book on a place of special significance in Northeast India. The essays within question the longstanding colonial and tourist romance surrounding the ‘Queen of the Hills,’ and examine the political, social, environmental, and labour movements that shape its contemporary life. With this collection, Townsend Middleton and Sara Shneiderman upend outdated myths in favour of rigorous new scholarship. The reader is left with a portrait of Darjeeling that is as complex and dynamic as it is intricate.”—Manjushree Thapa, Author and Translator of Indra Bahadur Rai’s There’s a Carnival Today
Purchase the book from Oxford University Press (Global) Purchase the book from Oxford University Press (India) Read sections of the book for free on Google Books Reviews:Subhas Ranjan Chakraborty (Presidency College) in The Hindu Selma K. Sonntag (Humboldt State University) in Pacific Affairs Prem Poddar (Roskilde University) in Studies in Nepali History and Society Anna Pradhan (University of Melbourne) in European Bulletin of Himalayan Research
2003 The Gauri Shankar Trekking Area (including Rolwaling) – A Cultural Tour Book. Edited by Patricia East, Susan Höivik, Max Petrik, Sara Shneiderman and Mark Turin. Kathmandu: Eco Himal and Mandala Book Point |