Book Summary
Rethinking secularism and religious nationalism in Indian politics Many of the central issues in modern Indian politics have long beenunderstood in terms of an opposition between ideologies of secularism andcommunalism. Observers have argued that recent Hindu nationalism is the symptom of acrisis of Indian secularism and have blamed this on a resurgence of religion orcommunalism. Shabnum Tejani unpacks prevailing assumptions about the meaning ofsecularism in contemporary politics, focusing on India but with many points ofcomparison elsewhere in the world. She questions the simple dichotomy betweensecularism and communalism that has been used in scholarly study and politicaldiscourse. Tracing the social, political, and intellectual genealogies of theconcepts of secularism and communalism from the late nineteenth century until theratification of the Indian constitution in 1950, she shows how secularism came to bebound up with ideas about nationalism and national identity.
Book Details
| Book Name | Indian Secularism: A Social And Intellectual History, 1890-1950 |
| Author | Shabnum Tejani |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (Sep 2008) |
| ISBN | 9780253220448 |
| Pages | 302 |
| Language | English |
| Price | 1073 |
