| Notions of Nationhood in Bengal: Perspectives on Samaj, C. 1867-1905 Contributor(s): Gupta, Swarupa (Author) |
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ISBN: 9004176144 ISBN-13: 9789004176140 Publisher: Brill OUR PRICE: $167.20 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: June 2009 Annotation: This book reopens the debate on colonial nationalisms, going beyond derivative, borrowed, political and modernist paradigms. It introduces the conceptual category of samaj to demonstrate how indigenous socio-cultural origins in Bengal interacted with late-colonial discourses to produce the notion of a nation. Samaj (a historical society and an idea-in-practice) was a site for reconfiguring antecedents and negotiating fragmentation. Drawing on indigenous sources, this study shows how caste, class, ethnicity, region and community were refracted to conceptualise wider unities. The mapping of cultural continuities through change facilitates a more nuanced investigation of the ontology of nationhood, seeing it as related to, but more than political nationalism. It outlines a fresh paradigm for recalibrating postcolonial identities, offering interpretive strategies to mediate fragmentation. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science | Colonialism & Post-colonialism - Philosophy | History & Surveys - General - History | Asia - India & South Asia |
| Dewey: 954.130 |
| LCCN: 2009013694 |
| Series: Philosophy of History and Culture |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6.3" W x 9.4" (1.72 lbs) 424 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Indian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This book reopens the debate on colonial nationalisms, going beyond 'derivative', 'borrowed', political and modernist paradigms. It introduces the conceptual category of samaj to demonstrate how indigenous socio-cultural origins in Bengal interacted with late-colonial discourses to produce the notion of a nation. Samaj (a historical society and an idea-in-practice) was a site for reconfiguring antecedents and negotiating fragmentation. Drawing on indigenous sources, this study shows how caste, class, ethnicity, region and community were refracted to conceptualise wider unities. The mapping of cultural continuities through change facilitates a more nuanced investigation of the ontology of nationhood, seeing it as related to, but more than political nationalism. It outlines a fresh paradigm for recalibrating postcolonial identities, offering interpretive strategies to mediate fragmentation. |