What are the new characteristics of Hindu nationalism—now in a phase
when Hindutva logics are per... more What are the new characteristics of Hindu nationalism—now in a phase when Hindutva logics are percolating into various local practices, in India and in diaspora, and now that the BJP has assumed electoral office? This short ‘Post Script’ essay uses the cases represented in this special issue on ‘neo-Hindutva’ to think through overarching themes that distinguish present expressions of political Hinduism. I argue that while the vernacularization of Hindutva continues to generate new expressions that variously modulate or adapt classic Sangh Parivar positions in specific local contexts, the wide dispersion of Hindutva logics and the wider tendency to use political frameworks for almost all social affairs is generating other responses. Most notably, Hindutva vernacularization increasingly involves seeking out apolitical forms of politics itself: transcendent logics and neutralizing frameworks that position Hindutva as outside of the usual political corruptions of the modern Indian State. While such forms have a long history in the subcontinent, I argue for greater attentiveness to apolitical aspirations as these coalesce in what are usually politically overdetermined contexts. The pull of the apolitical cannot be cynically dismissed as disingenuous or merely a veiled politics, or we risk fueling rather than addressing the various dimensions of its evolving critique.
This article is the first of three in a series surveying research on Hindutva (Hindu nationalism ... more This article is the first of three in a series surveying research on Hindutva (Hindu nationalism or political hinduism), focusing on seminal articulations that set the stage for later debates, and define the directions of later politics. I review accounts of hindutva’s ideological origins, from the pre-independence racialist articulations to the humanist emphases of post-independence years, to the strident culturalism of the 1990s. ‘Hindutva’ is formed through these successive phases of ideological assertion, as much as it precipitates and participates in a wider culture of identitarian assertions. The second essay of three focuses on prominent rhetorical constructions deployed to
address hindutva polemically, and the third on hinduva as praxis.
The ethics of kinship: ethnographic inquiries, Jan 1, 2001
... The Chirumazhanji of my mind's invention is a fictional town that I ... more ... The Chirumazhanji of my mind's invention is a fictional town that I can never place amid the vast stretches of paddy green, next to the small Shiva ... What is it that urges Malathi Akka to make the long journey from Trichy to Bangalore with her two sons and husband though she is ill ...
Skip to Main Content. Due to scheduled maintenance access to the Wiley Online Library may be disr... more Skip to Main Content. Due to scheduled maintenance access to the Wiley Online Library may be disrupted as follows: Saturday, 2 October - New York 0500 EDT to 0700 EDT; London 1000 BST to 1200 BST; Singapore 1700 SGT to 1900 SGT. ...
What are the new characteristics of Hindu nationalism—now in a phase
when Hindutva logics are per... more What are the new characteristics of Hindu nationalism—now in a phase when Hindutva logics are percolating into various local practices, in India and in diaspora, and now that the BJP has assumed electoral office? This short ‘Post Script’ essay uses the cases represented in this special issue on ‘neo-Hindutva’ to think through overarching themes that distinguish present expressions of political Hinduism. I argue that while the vernacularization of Hindutva continues to generate new expressions that variously modulate or adapt classic Sangh Parivar positions in specific local contexts, the wide dispersion of Hindutva logics and the wider tendency to use political frameworks for almost all social affairs is generating other responses. Most notably, Hindutva vernacularization increasingly involves seeking out apolitical forms of politics itself: transcendent logics and neutralizing frameworks that position Hindutva as outside of the usual political corruptions of the modern Indian State. While such forms have a long history in the subcontinent, I argue for greater attentiveness to apolitical aspirations as these coalesce in what are usually politically overdetermined contexts. The pull of the apolitical cannot be cynically dismissed as disingenuous or merely a veiled politics, or we risk fueling rather than addressing the various dimensions of its evolving critique.
This article is the first of three in a series surveying research on Hindutva (Hindu nationalism ... more This article is the first of three in a series surveying research on Hindutva (Hindu nationalism or political hinduism), focusing on seminal articulations that set the stage for later debates, and define the directions of later politics. I review accounts of hindutva’s ideological origins, from the pre-independence racialist articulations to the humanist emphases of post-independence years, to the strident culturalism of the 1990s. ‘Hindutva’ is formed through these successive phases of ideological assertion, as much as it precipitates and participates in a wider culture of identitarian assertions. The second essay of three focuses on prominent rhetorical constructions deployed to
address hindutva polemically, and the third on hinduva as praxis.
The ethics of kinship: ethnographic inquiries, Jan 1, 2001
... The Chirumazhanji of my mind's invention is a fictional town that I ... more ... The Chirumazhanji of my mind's invention is a fictional town that I can never place amid the vast stretches of paddy green, next to the small Shiva ... What is it that urges Malathi Akka to make the long journey from Trichy to Bangalore with her two sons and husband though she is ill ...
Skip to Main Content. Due to scheduled maintenance access to the Wiley Online Library may be disr... more Skip to Main Content. Due to scheduled maintenance access to the Wiley Online Library may be disrupted as follows: Saturday, 2 October - New York 0500 EDT to 0700 EDT; London 1000 BST to 1200 BST; Singapore 1700 SGT to 1900 SGT. ...
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Papers by Deepa Reddy
when Hindutva logics are percolating into various local practices, in
India and in diaspora, and now that the BJP has assumed electoral
office? This short ‘Post Script’ essay uses the cases represented in this
special issue on ‘neo-Hindutva’ to think through overarching themes
that distinguish present expressions of political Hinduism. I argue that
while the vernacularization of Hindutva continues to generate new
expressions that variously modulate or adapt classic Sangh Parivar
positions in specific local contexts, the wide dispersion of Hindutva
logics and the wider tendency to use political frameworks for almost all
social affairs is generating other responses. Most notably, Hindutva
vernacularization increasingly involves seeking out apolitical forms of
politics itself: transcendent logics and neutralizing frameworks that
position Hindutva as outside of the usual political corruptions of the
modern Indian State. While such forms have a long history in the
subcontinent, I argue for greater attentiveness to apolitical aspirations as these coalesce in what are usually politically overdetermined contexts. The pull of the apolitical cannot be cynically dismissed as disingenuous or merely a veiled politics, or we risk fueling rather than addressing the various dimensions of its evolving critique.
address hindutva polemically, and the third on hinduva as praxis.
when Hindutva logics are percolating into various local practices, in
India and in diaspora, and now that the BJP has assumed electoral
office? This short ‘Post Script’ essay uses the cases represented in this
special issue on ‘neo-Hindutva’ to think through overarching themes
that distinguish present expressions of political Hinduism. I argue that
while the vernacularization of Hindutva continues to generate new
expressions that variously modulate or adapt classic Sangh Parivar
positions in specific local contexts, the wide dispersion of Hindutva
logics and the wider tendency to use political frameworks for almost all
social affairs is generating other responses. Most notably, Hindutva
vernacularization increasingly involves seeking out apolitical forms of
politics itself: transcendent logics and neutralizing frameworks that
position Hindutva as outside of the usual political corruptions of the
modern Indian State. While such forms have a long history in the
subcontinent, I argue for greater attentiveness to apolitical aspirations as these coalesce in what are usually politically overdetermined contexts. The pull of the apolitical cannot be cynically dismissed as disingenuous or merely a veiled politics, or we risk fueling rather than addressing the various dimensions of its evolving critique.
address hindutva polemically, and the third on hinduva as praxis.