India and Civilizational Futures is the second volume to emerge from the deliberations of the Backwaters Collective on Metaphysics and Politics, a group comprised largely of Indian scholars, writers, and intellectuals that was formed in late 2010 with the intent of considering how the intellectual and cultural resources of Indic civilization, and more broadly the Global South, might be deployed to introduce incommensurability and greater plurality into the world of modern knowledge systems. The members and friends of the Collective are animated by various passions: though some are interested i ... More

India and Civilizational Futures is the second volume to emerge from the deliberations of the Backwaters Collective on Metaphysics and Politics, a group comprised largely of Indian scholars, writers, and intellectuals that was formed in late 2010 with the intent of considering how the intellectual and cultural resources of Indic civilization, and more broadly the Global South, might be deployed to introduce incommensurability and greater plurality into the world of modern knowledge systems. The members and friends of the Collective are animated by various passions: though some are interested in the decolonization of the university and in exploring other sites of learning, and others wish to put into serious question the most familiar categories that have informed humanistic inquiry and social science research, they are united both in their quest to engender an ecological plurality of knowledges and reinitiate metaphysics into the discourses of politics. The contributors to this volume offer perspectives on India’s past and intellectual traditions that suggest how we might liberate ourselves from the straightjackets of history, development, normal politics, the nation-state, and what globally passes for ‘common sense’ in various spheres of life and thought. While some papers engage with a few figures who have been critical in shaping India’s intellectual life, such as Kabir, Narayana Guru, Ambedkar, Tagore, and Gandhi, others bring into the limelight equally compelling if somewhat neglected figures such as Rahul Sankrityayan, M.G. Ranade, and T.R.V. Murti. Conceptual chapters on intercommunality, South Asian ideas of hospitality, and mnemocultural modes of learning complete the volume.