About Book
India in the twenty-first century is—perhaps more than at any other time in its history—a place of contradictions. On the one hand, it is perceived as a rising superpower, on the other, it is classified as a third-world country.
Indian writing in English is flourishing, but classical languages, such as Sanskrit, seem to find no takers anymore. While every Indian citizen has the right to vote during election time, Dalits have to often struggle for their rights and dignity, more than sixty years after untouchability was abolished.
These issues and counter-issues, and more, are discussed in this anthology by some of the most informed and insightful commentators on India: Ajit Balakrishnan, Sheldon Pollock, Gopal Guru, Ranjani Mazumdar, and Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, among others.
Taken together, the essays in this volume illustrate why the country’s achievements should be seen only in the context of its problems, in order to get a complete picture of contemporary India.
About Author
Arjun Appadurai is Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University. A founder of the Interdisciplinary Network on Globalization, his numerous books include Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger (2006), and Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (1996).
Arien Mack, Alfred and Monette Marrow Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research, New York, has edited Social Research since 1970 and is the founding director of the New School’s Center for Public Scholarship. Dr. Mack and has authored or co-authored more than 60 articles as well as many books.