Against the grain: notes on identity, intolerance and history
Publication details: Manohar 2018 New DelhiDescription: 243 pISBN:- 9789350981689
- 306.954 J4A4
Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
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Book | Ahmedabad | Non-fiction | 306.954 J4A4 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 197350 |
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306.87432 S2G3 Generation unbound: drifting into sex and parenthood without marriage | 306.9086912 G8D3 Death and the migrant: bodies, borders and care | 306.954 J4A4 Against the grain: notes on identity, intolerance and history | 306.954 S4S7 Speak up: change India initiatives | 306.954 S4S7 Speak up: change India initiatives | 306.9544 S8S7 SPROUT: a social geography of Rajasthan |
The present collection consists of essays and short notes on some of the issues that dominate the political and cultural discourse of contemporary India which is witnessing the unprecedented ascendancy of the Hindu right. The volume represents a spontaneous response to its several loony assertions about the history and culture of India: India is a hindu rashtra and the hindu identity goes back to geological time; the cow has always been scared and unslayble; Hinduism is a tolerant religion; mythologies are the true histories of India; chanting of Bharat Mata ki Jai is an indisputable proof of one's patriotism; Indian historians are 'Macaulay's children'-stupid statements such as these, made with increasing frequency by the Hindutva votaries, figure prominently in public discourse as well as in private drawing room conversations.
This short yet timely volume seeks to debunk the myths of a fantastic antiquity of Hindu identity, spuriousness of the Brahminical tolerance and the pseudo nationalism of the saffron brigade whose historiography is rooted in colonialism and has multiple western paternity. It is therefore addressed more to those lay men and women who may be vulnerable to the hocus-pocus of the Sangh Parivar and less to it's members who are averse to reading, and rational thinking and love to wallow in their ignorance.
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