This book engages with the socio-cultural imaginings of Gandhi in literature, history, visual and popular culture. It explores multiple iterations of his ideas, myths and philosophies, which have inspired the work of filmmakers, playwrights, cartoonists and artists for generations.
Gandhi’s politics of non-violent resistance and satyagraha inspired various political leaders, activists and movements and has been a subject of rigorous scholarly enquiry and theoretical debates across the globe. Using diverse resources like novels, autobiographies, non-fictional writings, comic books, memes, cartoons and cinema, this book traces the pervasiveness of the idea of Gandhi which has been both idolized and lampooned. It explores his political ideas on themes such as modernity and secularism, environmentalism, abstinence, self-sacrifice and political freedom along with their diverse interpretations, caricatures, criticisms and appropriations to arrive at an understanding of history, culture and society.
With contributions from scholars with diverse research interests, this book will be an essential read for students and researchers of political philosophy, cultural studies, literature, Gandhi and peace studies, political science and sociology.
Author Biography:
Nishat Zaidi is Professor of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. A scholar, critic and translator, she is the recipient of several prestigious grants and has conducted collaborative research with the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa, University of Witwatersrand, SA, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany, and Michigan State University, USA. Her publications include her monographs, Makers of Indian Literature: Agha Shahid Ali (2014), Ocean as Method: Thinking with the Maritime (with Dilip Menon et al. 2022) and Terrains of Consciousness: Multilogical Perspectives on Globalization (Wurzburg University Press, 2021, co-authored with Zeno Ackermann et al.) and her translations and edited books, Day and Dastan (2018, with Alok Bhalla) and Between Worlds: The Travels of Yusuf Khan Kambalposh (2014, with Mushirul Hasan), among others. Her forthcoming work is Karbala: A Historical Play (translation of Premchand’s Play Karbala with a critical introduction and notes) to be published in 2022.
Indrani Das Gupta is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi, India. Currently pursuing her PhD from Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, India, in the area of Indian Science Fiction. She is engaged in the examination of the interface of science fictionality with the paradigms of nation state and the social variables that constitute the ontological human existence. Her research interests include science fiction studies, crime fiction, children and young adult narratives, utopia/dystopia, sports culture, popular culture and postmodern narratives. She is the non-fiction editor of Mithila Review: An International Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
