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Oxford University Press Keywords For Modern India by Craig Jeffrey , John Harriss
What have English terms such as civil society, democracy, development or nationalism come to mean in an Indian context and how have their meanings and uses changed over time? Why are they the subjects of so much debate - in their everyday uses as well as amongst scholars? How did a concept such as Hinduism come to be framed, and what does it mean now? What is caste? Does it have quite the same meaning now as in the past? Why is the idea of faction sosignificant in modern India? Why has the idea of empowerment come to be used so extensively? These are the sorts of questions that are addressed in this book. Keywords for Modern India is modelled after the classic exploration of English culture and society through the study of keywords - words that are strong, important and persuasive - by Raymond Williams. The book, like Williams Keywords, is not a dictionary or an encyclopaedia. Williams said that his was an inquiry into a vocabulary, and Keywords for Modern India presents just such an inquiry into the vocabulary deployed in writing in and about India in the Englishlanguage - which has long been and is becoming ever more a critically important language in Indias culture and society. Exploring the changing uses and contested meanings of common but significant words is a powerful and illuminating way of understanding contemporary India, for scholars and for students, and for generalreaders.show more