These six essays present an outsider's view of Western norms of progress, rationality, and maturity, and offer an alternate perspective on oppression in modern times. Well-known psychologist and social theorist Ashis Nandy stresses the importance of considering world views held by the "non-modern" cultures of the Third World in formulating a more humane and less technologically preoccupied vision of progress.  Institutionalized oppression is seen as a process which co-opts the physical and psychological worlds of its victims and destroys the basis of all dissenting visions of a just world. Concluding with an essay on Gandhi and his critical reaction to Western civilization, this book is an important contribution to political science, sociology, psychology, and South Asian studies.

Traditions, Tyranny and Utopias: Essays in the Politics of Awareness

Politics & Social Sciences

Nandy, Ashis

Social Sciences

Oxford University Press

This study contends that modern colonialism is successful not only because the ruling country subjugates through superior technical and economic resources, but also because the rulers propagate cultural subservience of the subject people. Exploring the myths, fantasies and psychological defenses that went into the colonial culture, particularly the polarities that shaped the colonial theory of progress, Nandy describes the Indian experience and shows how the Indians broke with traditional norms of Western culture to protect their vision of an alternative future.

The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism

History

Asia

In this volume of essays Ashis Nandy discusses several major issues and personalities of modern India - Rammohun Roy and sati, the social and cultural forces represented by Gandhi and his assassins; concepts of woman and womanhood; and Indira Gandhi and the culture of Indian politics. The author argues that reform movements and the role played by many of these personalities was the outcome, not only of social and economic pressures, but of the individual's own psychological make-up, desires, and insecurities.

At the Edge of Psychology: Essays in Politics and Culture (Oxford India Paperbacks)

Anthropology

These six essays present an outsider's view of Western norms of progress, rationality, and maturity, and offer an alternate perspective on oppression in modern times. Well-known psychologist and social theorist Ashis Nandy stresses the importance of considering world views held by the "non-modern" cultures of the Third World in formulating a more humane and less technologically preoccupied vision of progress. Institutionalized oppression is seen as a process which co-opts the physical and psychological worlds of its victims and destroys the basis of all dissenting visions of a just world. Concluding with an essay on Gandhi and his critical reaction to Western civilization, this book is an important contribution to political science, sociology, psychology, and South Asian studies.

Traditions, Tyranny and Utopias: Essays in the Politics of Awareness (Oxford India Paperbacks)

Alternative Sciences: Creativity and Authenticity in Two Indian Scientists

This work is a biographical sketch of the lives of two celebrated Indian scientists, J.C. Bose, the plant physiologist, and Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the greatest untrained mathematical geniuses the world has ever known. Nandy discusses the extent to which the colonial context within which these two men worked impinged on the calibre and nature of their research.

Biographies & Memoirs

In the early years of the nationalist movement, most nationalist leaders were convinced that the absence of a proper national state and the proper nationalist sentiments were major lacunae in Indian society and an indication of its backwardness. Yet in the 1920s, ambivalence toward the idea of nationalism appeared within the freedom movement, and was expressed by some of the most important nationalism leaders. This unique study offers a psychological and sociological explanation for the divergent views on nationalism held by patriots and freedom fighters in the early years of this period of political upheaval. Nandy focuses particularly on the thought of Tagore on nation, state, and patriotism as expressed in his major novels.

The Illegitimacy of Nationalism: Rabindranath Tagore and the Politics of Self (Oxford India Paperbacks)

Literature & Fiction

The Savage Freud: And Other Essays on Possible and Retrievable Selves

This is Nandy's most important collection of essays so far. The core of the volume consists of two ambitious, deeply probing essays, one on the early success of psycho-analysis in India, the other on the justice meted out by the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal to the defeated Japanese. Both issues are viewed in the context of the psychology of dominance over subservient of defeated culture. The theme is explored further in the remaining essays, and subsumes topics ranging from mass culture and media, to political terrorism, the hold of modern medicine, and notably the conflict or split between the creative work of writers like Kipling, Rushdie, and H G Wells, and the political and social values they publicly and rationally profess. The book is marked by Nandy's characteristically ebullient style, sharply perceptive insights, and confident engagement views.

The Savage Freud

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

OUP India

The destruction of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in December 1992 was a watershed in the politics of independent India. It was also an apocalyptic turning-point for community life at Ayodhya, and for the highly interdependent cultural lives of Hindus and Muslims living there. This book narrates how Ayodhya's inhabitants experienced the events that led up to and followed the destruction of the mosque.

Creating a Nationality: The Ramjanmabhumi Movement and Fear of the Self

Mayaram, Shail

Trivedy, Shikha

Yagnik, Achyut

This book brings together three of Ashis Nandy's most significant works--At the Edge of Psychology, The Intimate Enemy, and Creating a Nationality (co-authored with Shikha Trivedy, Shail Mayaram, and Achyut Yagnik). It is essential reading for social and political scientists, and all those interested in the complexities of Indian politics and culture.

Exiled at Home: Comprising At the Edge of Psychology, The Intimate Enemy and Creating a Nationality

This volume brings together three significant works of Ashis Nandy - Alternative Sciences, The Illegitimacy of Nationalism, and The Savage Freud. It is essential reading for social and political scientists, and all those interested in the complexities of Indian politics and culture.

Return from Exile: Alternative Sciences, Illegitimacy of Nationalism, The Savage Freud

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