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Beyond Nationalist Frames

Postmodernism, Hindu Fundamentalism, History

Sumit Sarkar author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Indiana University Press

Published:20th Sep '02

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Beyond Nationalist Frames cover

Reflections on the practice of history and contemporary politics by one of India's most eminent historians.

The political context in which historians of India find themselves is dominated by the advance of the Hindu Right and forms of capitalism, while the historian's intellectual context is dominated by the marginalization of all varieties of Marxism. This title offers a view of how the craft of history should be practiced in this conjuncture.

The political context in which historians of India find themselves today, says Sumit Sarkar, is dominated by the advance of the Hindu Right and globalized forms of capitalism, while the historian's intellectual context is dominated by the marginalization of all varieties of Marxism and an academic shift to cultural studies and postmodern critique. In Beyond Nationalist Frames, one of India's foremost contemporary historians offers his view of how the craft of history should be practiced in this complex conjuncture. In studies of colonial time-keeping, Rabindranath Tagore's fiction, and pre-Independence Bengal, Sarkar explores new approaches to the writing of history. Essays on contemporary politics consider the implications of the "Hindu Bomb," the rewriting of national history textbooks by Hindu fundamentalists, and the issue of conversion to Christianity. Scholars in all the fields touched by recent developments in South Asian historiography—anthropology, feminist theory, comparative literature, cultural studies—will find this a stimulating and provocative collection of essays, as will anyone interested in Indian politics.

" ... a subtle and illuminating critique of 'post-modernist' influences on contemporary Indian historical writing."--Asian Affairs, November 2004

ISBN: 9780253342034

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 485g

280 pages