ANNOUNCEMENTS-- New publication --
Literary Theory and the Claims of History: by Satya P. Mohanty At the core of postmodern thought, especially in literary theory, is the belief that such ideals as truth, reason, and objectivity are social constructs that have no universal or trans-historical validity. In exploring this constructivist view, Satya P. Mohanty examines its underlying epistemological claims and their social and political implications. His book points the way toward a critical alternative to the epistemological and cultural relativisms that are now so central to theoretical investigations in both the humanities and the social sciences. Drawing on his analysis of reference, interpretation, the nature of value, Mohanty defends a "post-positivist realist" conception of objectivity as a legitimate ideal of all inquiry. He outlines a realist theory of social identity and multicultural politics which sees radical moral universalism and cultural diversity as complementary-not competing-ideals.
"I learned something on almost every page of this book. Mohanty is a shrewd reader of the times
and his unexpected angle of attack consistently bears fruit in making us see things anew. A good
example is his discussion of Derrida, which seems to me right on target, and yet offers a vision of
Derrida's project that never occurred to me or to anyone else as far as my knowledge of the literature
on Derrida goes."
"Working through major debates and quandries in contemporary literary criticism and philosophy,
Satya Mohanty emerges with a brilliantly sensible proposal for a comprehensive philosphical realism."
"A challenging and inspiring book that grapples with unacknowledged epistemological issues in
the postmodern critique of universalism, objectivity, reason, and experience. Mohanty rejects
relativism and particularism in the name of a commonality that grants rational agency to all human
subjects, and redefines objectivity as fallible and situated in outlining the need for a post-positive
realism at the turn of the twenty-first century. Crucial reading for all who are concerned with the
conjuncture of contemporary theory and left social critique."
$39.95 cloth, $15.95 paper. Available in June 1997 from Cornell University Press. -- New book press release --
The Sikh Unrest and the Indian State:
by Ram Narayan Kumar The Sikh Unrest and the Indian State is a sequel to the author's first book on Punjab titled "The Sikh Struggle: Origin, Evolution and Present Phase," published in early 1991 by Chanakya Publications, Delhi. The first book is a documentation of the grievances that inspire the Sikh separatist movement. The follow-up study explores the symbiotic relationship between the "violence" and "historical misconceptions," which mark the positions of the antagonistic camps involved in the conflict. Separatist leaders harp on the "betrayal of the promises", which the Hindu leaders had supposedly made before 1947 to lure the Sikhs into India. However, they fail to specify what those promises were. Hindu nationalists attribute the trouble in the border state to foreign instigation. They forget that separatist unrest and its highhanded repression are not unique to Punjab, either now or earlier. Starting from the armed insurrection for an independent Nagaland in the northeast, which plagued Jawaharlal Nehru's first two decades of premiership, India has known secessionist terrorism in its peripheral states from the beginning of its political independence. The Sikh separatism is unique only in one respect: It expresses a complete reversal of political sentiments in a people who, together with Punjab's Hindus, had federated with India in 1947 by violently forcing a truncation of Punjab. The author suggests that speculations on how to resolve the conflict will remain fruitless unless they can explain this unprecedented change of heart in the Sikhs. A satisfactory answer demands an inquiry into many related questions: What is the Sikh identity and what are its ambivalences? What principles have guided the evolution of Indian representative institutions? How exactly did the notion of constitutional safeguards for minorities arise? What form of federalist ideal and practice did evolve under the British aegis? What was it that made the truncation of India "inevitable" in 1947? What led to this dismal culmination of an independence struggle that had gathered steam from the successful movement to annul Bengal's partition of 1905? Was there a better alternative to the kind of partition that Mountbatten had rushed and the Indian leaders had accepted? What enticed the Sikh leaders to join India by giving up their prosperous canal colonies and their religious shrines in the western part of Punjab? What explains the rise of Sikh separatist militancy from the early 70s? For all its fierceness, the Sikh unrest has not found clear intellectual articulation so far. What is it precisely that forms the hard core of the Sikh discontent, and what goals has the militant movement been trying to achieve? Concrete grievances nursed by the Sikhs could never inspire such frenzied responses unless they resonated ultrasensitive chords of their collective consciousness. What are these visceral sentiments that provoke intransigent reactions sustaining the unrest? Has India betrayed the commitments of 1947, as the Sikh leaders of today allege? What were those commitments? Was India, such as it emerged after independence, at all in a position to give them the communal safeguards and the regional autonomy for which they struggle? What scope is there for reconciliation now, and in which framework? The book explores these questions through a parallel exposition of the post-1977 separatism and pre-1947 independence struggle. The survey on the colonial period draws extensively from primary sources housed at India Office Records and Library in London. For his field study, the author has clearly benefitted from the close rapport he has been able to maintain with the key figures in the Sikh political circles, including separatist militants. Intermediary chapters on "personalities", which connect the contemporary survey with the historical retrospective, portray the lives and thinking of many of these figures. While camouflaging the actual identities under pseudonyms, the author does not obscure the true circumstances of life, mentality and methods, which allowed them to take the Sikh politics by storm. The book touches on sensitive issues of Indian nationalism, religious and ethnic identities, and the leadership performance of important historical personages, all of which may sting the ideological biases of the reader. Conscious of this, the author tries to state his facts in a narrative style that lets the facts stand independently of their possible interpretations. Only in the last two chapters, does he argue in support of personal conclusions. Representing a considerable sum of toil in terms of archival research and investigative fieldwork, the book offers new information and insights that liberate the debate on this important topic from the hackneyed understanding which saturates both the nationalist and the separatist rhetoric. It clothes politics with the flesh and the blood of the people who are its instruments, and compels attention on the stark realities of the situation by reflecting them as the products of a history which the Indians have forged by their own lights. It does not link the advocacy of reconciliation now with the alternatives along byroads which the Indians spurned in history. But it suggests that lasting solutions to the present problems may not be possible unless they got rid of the attitudes which have perverted their past. Author Ram Narayan Kumar was born August 1956 in a family of South Indian divines. Having spent his childhood in an intensely religious atmosphere, he discarded his "sacred thread", the mark of his brahmin birth, after his father's death in 1973. He entered public life in January 1975 in the wake of the movement for "Total Revolution" which was then being spearheaded by Jaya Prakash Narayan, a charismatic socialist. Kumar was interned without trial for nineteen months during the period of Emergency. Since then, Kumar has been keeping up his efforts, as campaigner, social worker, free-lance journalist and author, to inflect the course of Indian life in a direction conforming to his vision. Kumar has spent more than four and half years in jails: nineteen months during the Emergency and three years for leading a militant strike of colliery workers of Jhagarakhand in Madhya Pradesh. These eventful and formative ears saw him edit three shortlived magazines; lead independent public campaigns for right to work, for prison reforms and for other human rights issues. In November 1984, he initiated efforts to succour the Sikhs of Delhi at the height of the riots which broke out following Mrs. Gandhi's assassination, and later joined the ranks of relief workers in Bhopal following the tragic industrial accident in Union Carbide's pesticide plant claiming 5000 lives and debilitating thousands of the city's slum dwellers. His reports on human rights violations of Sikhs in Punjab, which have been circulated by the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab have become the focus of serious debate on State repression in Punjab. Kumar has authored three books:
-- New publication -- Ananya: A Portrait of IndiaAnanya means "no other" in Sanskrit. India is unique: a cradle of civilization; a nation as diverse as a continent; the land of over a thousand languages and dialects; birthplace of major religions; a major influence on world knowledge, values, history, and culture; the country of Buddha, Ashoka, Akbar, Gandhi, and Nehru; the land of seminal concepts in mathematics and philosophy; of Yoga, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, the Kamasutra, the Taj Mahal; of world-famous art, architecture, music and cuisine.Today's India, with close to a billion people, is the world's biggest democracy, with a vibrant free press and an independent judiciary. Its economy, with a middle class of 250 million consumers, is the fifth largest in the world. Ananya: A Portrait of India introduces the richness of India's 5000 year-old civilization. In Ananya forty of the world,s most distinguished experts on India introduce and interpret India's past and present. Written specially for an international audience of general readers, not specialists on India, each chapter presents the highlights of one aspect of Indian civilization in a lively, readable, fashion. Both traditional and contemporary India are covered. The 40 chapters, followed by an Epilogue, are arranged into the following sections:
Ananya was designed and edited at the Center for India Studies, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and published by the Association of Indians in America. Ananya, like its subject, is unique: Its combination of extensive, up to date coverage, superb scholarship, and lively presentation style makes it easily the best single-volume portrait of this fascinating civilization.
EDITED BY S. N. SRIDHAR, CENTER FOR INDIA STUDIES, SUNY STONY BROOK & NIRMAL K. MATTOO, ASSOCIATION OF INDIANS IN AMERICA
PUBLISHED BY
-- New Publication -- Indian Immigrants in USA: Struggle for Equality
A thoroughly researched 407-paged book by Premdatta Varma, Ph.D., it traces the history of
"how an Indian community was established in the United States as well as the denial, withdrawal,
and cancellation of its civil rights. Gradually the community registered victory when President
Truman signed the Luce-Celler Bill into law on July 2, 1946." |