About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

48 Soc. Change 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/sclcnge48 and id is 1 raw text is: 




Article


Hind Swaraj: Reading                                              Social Change
                                                                    ©CSD 2018
Gandhi's Critique               of                            SAGE Pub i atio
                                 ~U~L                        sagepub in/home nay
 Modernity          in  Teh.ran                     o10Iz/0,S           433
             Modernity in Tehran             ~     D OI: 10.1 1177/000490857177438 0517381
                                                http://journals.sagepub.com/home/sch
                                                                  $SAGE





Kian   Tajbakhsh'


Abstract
In both Iran and India, many social and cultural obstacles to authentic and humane
social development  are often traced to complexities caused by an  encounter
with Western   modernity. In this essay, I explore what the Iranian reception of
modernity  might gain from the Indian conversation on Hind Swaraj. I show that
Gandhi's thought contains two different critiques of modernity. The first radical
option entails the rejection of modernity and its core institutions such as the
nation-state; the second proposes adapting traditions, including religions, within
the framework   of a pluralistic democracy so as to craft alternative versions of
the nation-state. The objective of the essay is to examine those aspects of the
latter strand of Gandhi's thought that may be compatible with Iranian realities.
A  further goal is to put Iranian and Indian voices together in a constructive
dialogue with one another.


Keywords
Gandhi,  Hind Swaraj, Iranian modernity, pluralism, social development


In Iran, as in India, the categories of 'modernity' and the closely linked notion of
the 'West' continue to draw the attention of social scientists, philosophers, histo-
rians and social commentators from across the ideological spectrum. The implicit
justification for this focus is the claim that because the dislocating and distorting
effects of the encounter with Western societies over the last few hundred years



The argument was first presented in 2009 at an international seminar on the Centenary of Hind
Swaraj in February 2009 organised by the Council for Social Development.
' Fellow, The Committee on Global Thought and Visiting Professor, Urban Planning, Columbia
University, NY, USA.

Corresponding author:
Kian Tajbakhsh, Fellow, The Committee on Global Thought and Visiting Professor, Urban Planning,
Columbia University, Amsterdam Avenue and 116th St, Avery Hall New York, NY 10027, USA.
Email: kt242@columbia.edu

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most