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The Crisis of Secularism in India
Anuradha Dingwaney Needham and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan (Eds.)
Price
695.00
ISBN
9788178242569
Language
English
Pages
424
Format
Paperback
Dimensions
140 x 216 mm
Year of Publishing
2009
Territorial Rights
Restricted
Imprint
Permanent Black

While secularism has been integral to India’s democracy for more than fifty years, its uses and limits are being debated anew. Signs of a crisis in the relations between state, society, and religion include the violence against Muslims in Gujarat and the precarious situation of India’s minorities more generally; personal laws that vary by religious community; the affiliation of political parties with fundamentalist religious organizations; and the rallying of sections of the diasporic Hindu community behind nationalist Hinduism. A crisis of secularism undoubtedly exists, but whether the state can resolve conflicts and ease tensions or is itself part of the problem are matters of vigorous debate. In this continuingly relevant book, twenty leading Indian intellectuals assess the contradictory ideals, policies, and practices of secularism in India. Scholars of history, anthropology, religion, politics, law, philosophy, and media studies here consider the history of secularism in India; the relationship between secularism and democracy; and shortcomings in the categories “majority” and “minority.” They examine how debates about secularism play out in schools, the media, and the popular cinema. And they address two of the most politically charged sites of crisis: personal law and the right to practice and encourage religious conversion. Together the essays inject insightful analysis into the fraught controversy about the shortcomings and uncertain future of secularism in the world today.

Anuradha Dingwaney Needham is Donald R. Longman Professor of English at Oberlin College. 

Rajeswari Sunder Rajan is Distinguished Visiting Global Professor in the Department of English at New York University.
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