Constructing Post-Colonial India: National Character and the Doon School

by Sanjay Srivastava

Overview

An interdisciplinary and engaging book which looks at the nature of Indian society since Independence and unpacks what post-colonialism means to Indian citizens. Using the case study of the Doon School, a famous boarding school for boys, and one of the leading educational institutions in India, the author argues that to be post-colonial in India is to be modern, rational, secular and urban. In placing post-colonialism in this concrete social context, and analysing how it is constructed, the author renders a complex and often rather abstract subject accessible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415178563
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/01/1998
Series:	Culture and Communication in Asia
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sanjay Srivastava trained as a social anthropologist and is presently senior lecturer in the School of Literary and Communication Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

Table of Contents

Introduction: the seductions of capital 1 Practical minds, solid builders, and sane opinions 2 The marble mirage: constructing the Orient 3 The garden of rational delights 4 Secularism, the citizen, and Hindu contextualism 5 The management of water: capitalism, class, and science 6 The order of men: sentiments of the metropolis, settlements of civil society 7 Conclusion: ‘post-coloniality’, national identity, globalisation, and the simulacra of the real

Editorial Reviews

'Going far beyond the "sociology of education" framework, the study marks a noteworthy intervention in the academic debate on India's tryst with modernity ... an important contribution.' - The Australian Journal of Anthropology

From the Publisher