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The Idea of India

A Dialogue
Brief Description
A lively discussion between two eminent Indian academics that examines what it means to be an Indian. Through a stimulating dialogue, two old friends trace the history of the idea of India through digressions, anecdotes, and observations. Historian Romila Thapar and theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak reflect... Read More
Format: Hardback
$2299
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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A lively discussion between two eminent Indian academics that examines what it means to be an Indian.

Through a stimulating dialogue, two old friends trace the history of the idea of India through digressions, anecdotes, and observations. Historian Romila Thapar and theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak reflect on the challenges posed by essentialism and exclusion whenever cultures attempt to define and assert themselves. They also emphasize the role of education in fostering a more inclusive and accurate understanding of the nation's complex history. Their conversation revolves around the narratives that have shaped Indian identityβ€”from Vedic times to the presentβ€”and those whose voices and visions for this land remain unheard and unseen.

Ranging from nationalism to religion and beyond, The Idea of India discusses an urgent question: What does it mean to be an Indian in contemporary society?

Series: History for Peace

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  • The Idea of India
    A lively discussion between two eminent Indian academics that examines what it means to be an Indian. Through a stimulating dialogue, two old friends trace the history of the idea of India through digressions, anecdotes, and observations. Historian Romila Thapar and theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak reflect on the challenges posed by essentialism and exclusion whenever cultures attempt to define and...
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    An accessible monograph that invites readers to rethink traditional historical boundaries in its exploration of myth and memory. Looking Back through Our Identities explores the intricate relationship between myth and history in shaping the identities of diverse Indian communities. Through a meticulous analysis of ancient texts and oral traditions, Aloka Parasher Sen examines how the past is interpreted and navigated...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781803093840

Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 08 October 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Seagull Books London Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 13.0mm

Width: 108.0mm

Height: 178.0mm

Weight: 172g

Pages: 77

About the Author

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is university professor in the humanities at Columbia University and the author of many books, includingΒ Nationalism and the Imagination, also published by Seagull Books.Β Romila ThaparΒ is an emeritus professor of history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and she was previously general president of the Indian History Congress. She is a fellow of the British Academy and holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Calcutta, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago, among others. She is an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and SOAS, London. In 2008, she was awarded the prestigious Kluge Prize from the Library of Congress.

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