Modern South Asian Thinkers

An accessible compendium that puts together the political, social, literary and humanist perspectives of modern thinkers of South Asia.

This book is a rare collection of essays on contemporary South Asian thinkers and their ideas. It seeks to introduce readers to the lives and beliefs of these thinkers who come from diverse disciplinary backgrounds such as Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics and Humanities.  The book discusses the works of 61 thinkers from across the region, avoiding both disciplinary and cartographic boundaries. One of the unique features of this text is that it moves away from the confines of traditional Eurocentric understanding of South Asia. Modern South Asian Thinkers will help readers understand the intellectual density of the region in a concise yet engaging manner.

Key Features: 

· Presents thinkers from various backgrounds, disciplines and nations.

· Each essay relates thinkers with their location and contemporary surroundings.

· Includes selections with sensitivity to nations and narrations.

· Each entry is aided by boxed material on trivia, famous quotes and key inferences.

Dev Nath Pathak is currently a senior assistant professor at South Asian University, New Delhi (India). He teaches sociology there. He has a doctorate in sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His research interests consist broadly of cultural performances, art, music and popular cinema in the region of South Asia. In the past, he has taught at the Department of Sociology of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and Hindu College and Kamala Nehru College of University of Delhi, and also at the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance. He has contributed articles to various journals and chapters in edited books. Some of his recent publications include Culture and Politics in South Asia: Performative Communication (2017); Another South Asia! (2017) and Intersections of Art, Sociology and Art History (2016). He is also a review editor with the journal Society and Culture in South Asia. Some of his publications are available at academia.edu. The thematic range of his writings includes sociology in South Asia, youth subjectivities, anomalies of education, politics of cinema, performance and visual arts. He was a Charles Wallace Fellow at Queen’s University, Belfast, United Kingdom, in 2015.

Sanjeev Kumar H. M. is Professor of international relations and global politics at the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi, India. He has previously taught at the South Asian University (SAARC University), New Delhi; the University of Allahabad, Allahabad; and the Karnatak University, Dharwad. His areas of interest include Islamic thought and international relations, international relations theory, the politics of Muslim identity and the question of world order, India–Pakistan relations, democratization of South Asia, South Asian security, and the history of ideas in South Asia. He has published extensively in reputed journals such as the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Third World Quarterly, Economic & Political Weekly, South Asian Survey and Society and Culture in South Asia on related themes. His publications include the textbook Modern South Asian Thinkers (2018), a co-edited encyclopaedic volume. He is currently working on the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) project ‘Popular Imaginaries and Discourses on Politics in India: Exploring Cultural Narratives as Alternative Sites of Knowledge Construction’. He is also working on a co-authored book titled Deconstructing Islamophobic Public Culture: Hindu Nationalism and the ‘Muslim Other’ in India.