Modernity, its Pathologies and Reenchantments is a tribute to one of the most creative contemporary Indian intellectuals, Ashis Nandy, and celebrates his contribution as a theorist, particularly his exploration of the modern self.
As an intellectual, Nandy's object of inquiry is modernity itself, both in the West and the non-West. Even as his focus has been on the pathologies of modernity, his work also allows us to visualise a different future. This volume highlights that duality: the essays discuss the problems and pathologies of modernity, while also showing us alternative pathways to the desacralisation and disenchantment in the world.
The book is divided into two sections: Pathologies of Modernity, and Reenchantments of Modernity. In a detailed Introduction, Shail Mayaram draws on Nandy's work of over forty eyars and examines his reflections on colonisation and de-colonisation; nationalism and Hindutva; secularism and cosmopolitanism; knowledge systems and the relation to Freud; and the gender question.
The chapters together address Nandy's view of categories such as civilisation, community and identity, as well as his critique of history and call for an alternative to history. The contributors deepen our understanding of the pathologies of modernity and reflect on spaces that have been resistant to modernity, and can therefore be potential sources of reenchanting our world.
Shail Mayaram is Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi.
List of Abbreviations Preface 1. Introduction Walking with a Flaneur to Modernity: Reflections on Ashis Nandy as a Theorist Shail Mayaram I Modernity, Problems and Pathologies
2. Sleeping with the Enemy: Penetrations and (S)permutations D. Ahmed
3. The Economics of Limits and the Limits of Economics Stephen A. Marglin
4. Civilisation-talk, Contemporary Global Relations, and the Humanities: Predicament and Promise Arif Dirlik
5. Trump and America: A Study in Individual Psychology and Collective Regression Avner Falk
II Modernity, Enchantments and Reenchantments
6. Beyond the Alternative History and Alternative to History Debate: Reflections on Pain, Justice, Reconciliation and the Right to History Shail Mayaram
7. Tagore' Non-nation Partha Chatterjee
8. Nandy on Religion and Secularism: A Reappraisal Rajeev Bhargava
9. Playing with Memory: Beyond Universal Time and Universal Man Frederique Apffel-Marglin
10. Madame Blavatsky's Visionary Travels and the Work of the Dream-ego Gananath Obeyesekere
11. Precarious Citizens, Cyber-nationalism: South-South Asia's New and Old Diasporas Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake
Notes on the Contributors Index