Promotional Information

Gandhi was the creator of a radical style of politics that has proved effective in fighting insidious social divisions within India and elsewhere in the world. How did this new form of politics come about? David Hardiman shows that it was based on a larger vision of an alternative society, one that emphasized mutual respect, resistance to exploitation, nonviolence, and ecological harmony.

Table of Contents

Preface 1. Introduction: The Gandhian Dialogic 2. An Incorporative Nationalism Forging a Nationalist Hegemony The Disciplined Nation Invented Histories of the Nation 3. Dialogic Resistance Popular Forms of Mass Resistance in India Satryagraha Individual Conscience Ahimsa Satryagraha Within the Indian Polity 4. An Alternative Modernity Hind Swaraj A Gandhian Civilisation The Contructive Programme Gandhi, Socialism, and the Doctrine of Trusteeship The Gandhian Critique Beyond India 5. Fear of the Nation Gandhi's Family Life Gandhi and Sexual Desire Marriage and Patriarchy Women and Satyagraha The Critique of Patriarchy 6. Dalit and Adivasi Assertion Dalits Adivasis Dalits, Adivasis, and the Indian Nation 7. Fighting Religious Hatreds Gandhi, Muslims, and Hindu Nationalists The 'National Duty' of the Hindu Patriot Gandhi and Christianity Partition and Gandhi's 'Finest Hour' Gandhian Anti-Communal Work Since Independence 8. Gandhian Activism in India After Independence The Bhoodan and Gramdan Movements The Naxalite Alternative The JP Movement JP's 'Total Revolution' The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini Women and Anti-Liquor Movements in India Vahini and Women's Rights Chipko Andolan Narmada Bachao Andolan Gandhian Activism Since 1980 9. Gandhi's Global Legacy Some Contemporary Western Reactions Gandhi and the Pacifist Movement Gandhian Resistance on a World Stage The African-American Struggle in the USA The Revolt Against Apartheid in South Africa Petra Kelly and the German Greens 10. The Moral Activists' Lonely Path to Martyrdom Bibliography Index

About the Author

David Hardiman, who lived for many years in Gandhi's home region ofGujerat, is based at the University of Warwick. He is a founding member of the Subaltern Studies group. His books include Peasant Nationalists of Gujarat, 1917-1934, The Coming of the Devi: Adivasi Assertion in Western India, and Feeding the Baniya:Peasants and Usurers in Western India.

Reviews

Well written and well documented...Very highly recommended. Choice Hardiman's book is an excellent review and synthesis of the literature and a sober evaluation of Gandhi's legacy in India and beyond. -- Kaushik Bagchi History Hardiman's volume is an extremely valuable addition to the already voluminous literature on Gandhi, offering to the novice a rich introduction to the man and his work and to the expert a series of thought-provoking arguments and insights. -- Stephen P. Blake Journal of Asian Studies This excellent volume by Hardiman... Will be an invaluable resource. -- John E. Cort Religious Studies Review This well-documented and hard-bitten investigation presents Gandhi's principles... using accessible prose and factual analysis. Peace & Change It certainly ranks among the most useful books on Gandhi published in the last decade. -- David M. Fahey Canadian Journal of History