The Inner Mirror is a collection of Kannada essays and speeches that have been compiled and translated into English in order to make them accessible to a wider audience both in and outside of India. Vasavi explains that the project originated in order to overcome the regional language boundaries of social science scholars in India, who are not confident in their ability to express complex ideas about society and culture in English not are able to translate them into the many languages of the subcontinent. It also provides all scholars of Indian society new theoretical perspectives that have originated outside of the Euro-American theoretical milieu, which Vasavi argues in his introduction is critical to gain a fuller understanding of any culture. He suggests that the subjects of inquiry must not only be passive objects, which are observed and onto which theories are to be lobbed, but they should be “co-researchers whose knowledge and ideas must be recognized as valid intellectual contributions” (p. 7). For Vasavi, this would produce a “self-conscious, sensitive, representative body of knowledge that overcomes the multiple problems associated with current social sciences, their orientation, pedagogy, and impact” (p. 7). This production of a “world anthropology” sounds great in theory, but in practice, The Inner Mirror is replete with potentially problematic assumptions about who has “insider” knowledge. Common language, geographical proximity, similar concepts regarding the nature of the cosmos are incomplete criteria to consider oneself an “insider” in a variegated society that has so many group distinctions, some more rigid and some more malleable. If the goal, however, is to do away with binary groups of observed/observer insider/outsider in preference for a continuum of multiple perspectives the book achieves its goal.

This can clearly be seen in U.R. Ananthamurthy's essay “Why not Worship in the Nude?: A Reflection of a Novelist in his Time,” which interestingly enough is the only in the collection not originally composed in Kannada. In this essay, Ananthamurthy recounts a round-table discussion about recent events surrounding the annual festival to Renukamba in Chandragutti in which hundreds of women offer their nakedness to the goddess in fulfillment of a vow. Along with Ananthamurthy are “two anthropologist, liberals of different persuasions, and a woman activist of great courage” (p. 80). While none of those present had engaged in the ritual, Ananthamurthy and the woman activist both had some a claim to insider knowledge – Ananthamurthy was from the same district and presumably was previously acquainted with the practice and the woman could identify with the devotees from a gendered perspective. The two ‘radical rationalist’ academics provided two more perspectives on the ritual. As they debate the legitimacy of the ritual, the need for the practice to stop because it ‘forces’ young women to lose their modesty, and the roles of scholars and activists in the enacting change that would alter the ritual lives of others. The essay brilliantly demonstrates the multiple perspectives, which the editor has intended to portray and how these are the result of a scholar's multiple points of resonance and contrast with the subject matter.

The other essays within the collection fill out the spectrum of perspectives. Chandrasekhar B. Kambar's essay relates mythology and practices associated with the “Gods and Goddesses of Shivapura,” which are ‘his’ deities and his hometown, with no attempt at ‘making sense’ of the narratives or rituals. On the other end of the spectrum is D.R Nagaraj's theoretically dense essay “The Nature of Kannada Nationalism” in which the author traces the roots of Kannada nationalism through the creation of memory and “one-dimensional subjectivity” (pp. 34–36) by people that are completely his ‘other,’ except that he is also a native Kannada speaker.

The Inner Mirror provides a welcome sample of scholars of Kannadiga society, who are only writing in Kannada, that can begin to expand the knowledge of the people and culture of Karnataka for those of us whose primary focus is the Kannada-speaking world. Though lucid, well-translated, and individually quite compelling, the essays in the compilation cover such a diverse set of concerns and themes (15 essays divided into 5 sections, which include: Contestations; Religiosity; Re-casting Caste; Women: and Modernity and Development in Locality) that the collection may not be as helpful to scholars whose field is outside of modern Karnataka as part of a personal library; however, the essays do provide interesting insight into many issues and would be a great addition to any college or university's South Asia or sociology collection.