Masculinity and Its Challenges in India

“a very useful contribution to the existing literature on masculinities in India, but also, a very enjoyable read. The richly conversational and yet theoretically rigorous style of writing represented will no doubt make the book appealing both to undergraduates beginning to explore an interest in these topics, and to scholars researching this area”—The Royal Society for Asian Affairs; “Here is an outstanding collection which examines the nature of Indian masculinity from a rich variety of perspectives, historical, sociological, psychological. This book will become an important tool in understanding the tensions in modern Indian society and ways of resolving them”—Lord Meghnad Desai, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics; “This collection edited by Rohit K. Dasgupta and K. Moti Gokulsing is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive stock taking of South Asian masculinity undertaken in recent times. With an attractive blend of contributions from some well known names and a number of young scholars, the book spans ethnography, history, literary criticism and culture studies to look at Indian masculinity as a contested domain, which allows the play of some of the core fantasies of society and, at the same time becomes the site of experiments with the esoteric or the arcane.”—Ashis Nandy, Honorary Research Fellow, CSDS; “This ground breaking collection provides new frames of reference for understanding South Asian masculinities in the context of colonialism, post-colonialism and contemporary consumer culture.”—Richard Allen, New York University.