Prophets facing backward : postmodern critiques of science and Hindu nationalism in India / Meera Nanda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nanda, Meera.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--India--History--20th century.

Science.

Nationalism--India.

Nationalism.

Science--Philosophy--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (329 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The leading voices in science studies have argued that modern science reflects dominant social interests of Western society. Following this logic, postmodern scholars have urged postcolonial societies to develop their own "alternative sciences" as a step towards "mental decolonization." These ideas have found a warm welcome among Hindu nationalists who came to power in India in the early 1990s. In this passionate and highly original study, Indian-born author Meera Nanda reveals how these well-meaning but ultimately misguided ideas are enabling Hindu ideologues to propagate religious myths in the guise of science and secularism. At the heart of Hindu supremacist ideology, Nanda argues, lies a postmodernist assumption: that each society has its own norms of reasonableness, logic, rules of evidence, and conception of truth, and that there is no non-arbitrary, culture-independent way to choose among these alternatives. What is being celebrated as "difference" by postmodernists, however, has more often than not been the source of mental bondage and authoritarianism in non-Western cultures. The "Vedic sciences" currently endorsed in Indian schools, colleges, and the mass media promotes the same elements of orthodox Hinduism that have for centuries deprived the vast majority of Indian people of their full humanity. By denouncing science and secularization, the left was unwittingly contributing to what Nanda calls "reactionary modernism." In contrast, Nanda points to the Dalit, or untouchable, movement as a true example of an "alternative science" that has embraced reason and modern science to challenge traditional notions of hierarchy.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Abbreviations

Preface

Chapter 1: Prophets Facing Backward: Betrayal of the Clerks

Chapter 2: Dharma and the Bomb: Reactionary Modernism in India

Chapter 3: Vedic Science, Part One: Legitimation of the Hindu Nationalist Worldview

Chapter 4: Vedic Science, Part Two: Philosophical Justi.cation of Vedic Science

Chapter 5: Epistemic Charity: Equality of All "Ethnosciences"

Chapter 6: We are All Hybrids Now!: Paths to Reactionary Modernism

Chapter 7: A Dalit Defense of the Deweyan-Buddhist View of Science

Chapter 8: The Battle for Scientific Temper in India's New Social Movements

Chapter 9: The Ecofeminist Critique of the Green Revolution

Chapter 10: The "Hindu Left," Agrarian Populism, and the Hindu Right

Chapter 11: Conclusion: Prophets Facing Forward

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-298) and index.

ISBN:

0-8135-7108-1

0-8135-3634-0

OCLC:

614571252