Nationalist thought and the colonial world : a derivative discourse / Partha Chatterjee.

Main entry:

Chatterjee, Partha, 1947-

Title & Author:

Nationalist thought and the colonial world : a derivative discourse / Partha Chatterjee.

Publication:

Description:

viii, 181 pages ; 22 cm

Notes:
Originally published: London : Zed Books for the United Nations University, 1986.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 172-176) and index.
1. Nationalism as a Problem in the History of Political Ideas -- 2. The Thematic and the problematic -- 3. The Moment of Departure: Culture and Power in the Thought of Bankimchandra -- 4. The Moment of Manoeuvre: Gandhi and the Critique of Civil Society -- 5. The Moment of Arrival: Nehru and the Passive Revolution -- 6. The Cunning of Reason.

Summary:

"If it isn't obvious from the title of this book that this is going to be full of postmodern jargon, it becomes clear quite quickly that Chaterjee prefers difficult terms like 'problematic', 'thematic' and 'discourse' without always defining them - he even admits his admiration for Rorty, Barthes, Foucault and Derrida. Nonetheless, underneath all of this verbiage is a strong and convincing argument about the three stages of nationalism in India: the moment of departure (epitomized by Bankimchandra Chatttopadhyay), the moment of manoeuvre (Gandhi) and the moment of arrival (Nehru). Chatterjee clearly shows how nationalism in India was akin to Gramsci's concept of the 'passive revolution' - i.e. merely a drive towards independence, not towards transforming or breaking up colonial instutions. He argues that, instead of supporting nationalism, we should instead challenge the marriage between reason and capital. From the title of this book one might expect Chatterjee to draw links to other anti-colonial nationalisms but he doesn't; rather he only discusses India (not even other parts of South Asia). While this approach doesn't really make this book too useful for examining anti-colonial nationalisms in general, for someone like me who has never read a book on Indian nationalism this is a good introduction."--Amazon.ca.

ISBN:

0816623112 (US ; pbk.)
9780816623112 (US ; pbk.)

Subject:

Nationalism Developing countries.
Nationalism.
Politics and government
Developing countries Politics and government.
Developing countries.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 277662
Call No.: BIB 212537
Status: Available

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