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Reading Gandhi

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Course Type Course Code No. Of Credits
Foundation Elective NSLG1EL104 4

Semester and Year Offered: Monsoon semester 2019

Course Coordinator and Team: Dr. Ngoru Nixon

Email of course coordinator: ngoru[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in

Does the course connect to, build on or overlap with any other courses offered in AUD?

The course, ‘Reading Gandhi’ is offered as elective to BA students of School of Law, Governance and Citizenship (SLGC) and School of Global Affairs (SGA) in Karampura campus. There are SLGC BA courses, namely ‘Anticolonialism and Postcolonial Futures’ and ‘Modern Indian Political Thought’ which have components on Gandhi. The course, ‘Reading Gandhi’, as the title indicates, is however extensive and elaborate both in terms of the scope and the engagement.

  • Specific requirements on the part of students who can be admitted to this course:  (Pre-requisites; prior knowledge level; any others – please specify) No specific requirements.
  • No. of students to be admitted (with justification if lower than usual cohort size is proposed): Maximum 50.
  • Course scheduling (semester; semester-long/half-semester course; workshop mode; seminar mode; any other – please specify):Semester-long course

How does the course link with the vision of AUD?

AUD, named after Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, equally draws inspiration from him in the quest to promote equality and social justice. A course on ‘Reading Gandhi’ becomes particularly pertinent given the ‘encounter’ between the imaginations of Ambedkar and Gandhi over social and political questions which have huge bearing on the ideals of equality and social justice. In the light of this, a course devoted to a critical reading of Gandhi and his ideas would entice the students to develop a greater appreciation of the values which AUD represents and as well as seeks to inculcate. 

How does the course link with the specific programme(s) where it is being offered?

The course on ‘Reading Gandhi’, through a critical reading of Gandhi’s thought and practice, aims to augment an understanding of political contestations that have come to mark the modern imagination of India. The course connects to an array of political thinkers based courses such as ‘Reading Ambedkar’, ‘Modern Indian Political Thought’, and ‘Anticolonialism and Postcolonial Futures’, offered by SLGC for its interdisplinary BA programme on Law and Politics

Course Details:

Summary:Gandhi was the leading figure of India’s freedom movement. It was his mass-based mobilization and campaign marked by the method of “non-violence” and Satyagraha which changed the course of the movement. His guiding method and principles have been cited or invoked as desirable political ideals both in India and around the world. Concurrently, criticisms against Gandhi have remained abound in the contemporary time as there had been during his own time.

Against this backdrop, the course critically examines the central tenets of Gandhi’s thought and political practice by reading pertinent primary writings complemented by suitable secondary materials. The act of reading is aimed at explicating and engaging with his thought and ideas without losing sight of the historical and political backdrop (colonial subjection of India and its myriad impact on the political, societal and economic condition of India) which has aroused and informed their development. The course will also examine the ‘journey’ of Gandhi’s ideas/thought in the postcolonial India and the global keeping the focus on the emerging debate on issues such as his view on caste and race.

Objectives:

The course aims to

  • Introduce the students to Gandhi through an amalgamation of contextual and textual engagement.
  • Inculcate a critical understanding of Gandhi’s ideas by reading them against the views of his critics. 
  •  Illuminate the fissures underlining the legacy of Gandhi. 

Expected learning outcomes:

After the completion of this course, the students would be able to:

  • Draw a link between the life and work of Gandhi particularly the nature of the continuity between his experiences and encounters in South Africa and his spearheading of India’s freedom struggle.
  • Explain the central tenets of Gandhi’s thought and political practice such as satyagraha, ahimsa, and Swaraj and their significance against the backdrop of the political imagination of both his and the present time.  
  • Give an assessment of Gandhi’s critique of modern civilization and his alternative conception of political, social and economic order
  • Develop a critical understanding of Gandhi’s contribution to India’s freedom struggle and the influence of his ideas and thought around the globe particularly relating to peace and non-violence movements for justice and equality.
  • Form their opinions on the position of the critics concerning Gandhi’s view on caste and race.

Overall structure:

The course is composed of five modules-

Module 1: Introduction: Situating Gandhi (2 Weeks)

By way of situating Gandhi, the opening module delineates his political journey focussing on the nature of continuity between his formative experiences and encounters in South Africa to spearheading the India’s freedom struggle.

Module 2- Refashioning the Political (3 weeks).

The second module examines Gandhi’s approach of spiritualizing the political through the philosophy of Satyagraha and Ahimsa. The module also entails a critical discussion on Gandhi’s conceptualization of the political beyond the dominant (liberal) understanding underpinned by public-private dichotomy and certain assumption of man and nature.

Module 3- Critique of Modernity and the Alternative vision (3 Weeks).

Gandhi’s notion of the political is intrinsically related to his critique of modernity. This aspect will be examined in the third module. It will be followed by critical exposition of his alternative conception of social, economic, and political order.

Module 4: On Freedom (2 Weeks)

The module discusses Gandhi’s idea of swaraj or freedom. Gandhi conceived his idea of swaraj against the backdrop of certain politico-ideological contestation of his time. The discussion will also involve the contestation of his idea of swaraj by figures such as Tagore, Savarkar.

Module 5: Gandhi and His Legacy (2 Week)

Though the name of Gandhi is popularly associated with India’s freedom struggle, his influence and ideas, notably concerning peace and non-violence have travelled beyond the boundary of India. At the same time, his views on caste and race have continued to evoke critical appraisals. The module discusses these two-fold aspects of Gandhi’s legacy.

Contents:

Module 1: Introduction: Situating Gandhi (2 Weeks).

Essential Readings:

  • Disalvo, Charles R. M.K. Gandhi, Attorney at Law: The Man before the Mahatma. University of California Press, 2013 (Chapter 8- A Public man, and Chapter 17- Courtroom as Laboratory).
  • Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand. The Story of My Experiments with Truth: An Autobiography. Penguin, 007. (Selected passages).
  • Gandhi, M.K. “Statement in the Great Trial of 1922.” https://www.mkgandhi.org/speeches/gto1922.htm
  • Parekh, Bhikhu. Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1997. (Chapter 1- Life and Work, pp. 1-24).

Supplementary Readings:

  • Agarwal, Shriman Narayan. Gandhian Constitution for Free India. Allahabad: Kitabistan, 1946.
  • Bose, Nirmal Kumar. My Days With Gandhi. Calcutta: Nishana, 1953.
  • Brown, Judith M. “Gandhi as nationalist leader, 1915-1948,” in The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi, edited by Judith M. Brown and Anthony Parel. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Pp. 51-70.
  • Guha, Ramachandra. Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World, 1914-1948. Penguin Allen Lane, 2018.

Module 2- Refashioning the Political (3 weeks).

Essential Readings:

  • Gandhi, M.K.  Hind Swaraj and other Writings, edited by Anthony J. Parel. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Gandhi, M.K. The Essential Writings, edited by Judith M. Brown. Oxford University Press, 2008. (V. Non-Violence as Political Action).
  • Kaviraj, Sudipta. “On the historicity of ‘the political’: Rajaniti and politics in modern political thought.” In Comparative Political Thought: Theorizing Practices, edited by Michael Freeden and Andrew Vincent. Routledge, 2013. Pp. 24-39.
  • Saxena, Kiran. “Gandhi’s Feminist Politics, Gender Equality and Patriarchal values.” https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/Kiran%20Saxena.htm
  • Pantham, Thomas. “Thinking with Mahatma Gandhi: Beyond Liberal Democracy,” Political Theory, Vol.11, No. 2 (May, 1983), 165-188.
  • Parekh, Bhikhu. Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1997. (Chapter 3- Human Nature and Chapter 4- Satyagraha).

Supplementary Readings:

  • Hardiman, David. Gandhi: in his time and ours. Permanent Black, 2003. (Chapter 3- Dialogic Resistance).
  • Bilgrami, Akeel. “Gandhi’s religion and its relation to his politics,” in The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi, edited by Judith M. Brown and Anthony Parel. Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Module 3- Critique of Modernity and the Alternative vision (3 Weeks).

Essential Readings:

  • Gandhi, M.K. Sarvodaya: The Welfare of All. Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1954. Pp. 1-48, 66-74.
  • Gandhi, M.K.  Hind Swaraj and other Writings, edited by Anthony J. Parel. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Gandhi, M.K. Panchayati Raj, compiled by R.K. Prabhu. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Mudranalaya, 1959. http://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/pdf-books/panchayat-raj.pdf
  • Parekh, Bhikhu. Gandhi’s Political Philosophy: A Critical Examination. Palgrave Macmillan, 1989. (Chapter 5- Theory of the State).

Supplementary Readings:

Module 4: On Freedom (2 Weeks)

Essential readings:

  • Dalton, Denis. “Satyagraha Meets Swaraj: The Development of Gandhi’s Ideas, 1896-1917,” in Mahatma Gandhi: Non-Violent Power in Action. Columbia University Press, 2012. Pp. 12-29.
  • Dalton, Denis. “Swaraj: Gandhi’s Idea of Freedom,” in Mahatma Gandhi: Selected   Political Writings. Hackett Publishing, 1996. Pp. 95-148 
  • Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi. The Mahatma and the Poet: Letters and debates between Gandhi and Tagore 1915-1941. National Book Trust, 1997. (Gandhi’s essay, “The Great Sentinel”; Tagore’s essay ‘The Cult of the Charkha’).
  • Savarkar,V.D.The Gandhian 9 https://savarkarsmarak.com/activityimages/The%20Gandhian%20Confusion.pdf

Supplementary Readings:

  • Dallmayr, Fred. “What is Swaraj? Lessons from Gandhi,” Gandhi, Freedom, and Self Rule, edited by Anthony J. Parel. New Delhi: Vistaar Publications, 2002.
  • Gandhi, M.K.  Hind Swaraj and other Writings, edited by Anthony J. Parel. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Parel. Anthony J. “Gandhian Freedoms and Self Rule,” in Gandhi, Freedom, and Self Rule, edited by Anthony J. Parel. New Delhi: Vistaar Publications, 2002. Pp. 1-23

Module 5: Gandhi and His Legacy (2 Week)

Essential readings:

Supplementary Readings

  • Roy, Arundhati. “Introduction: The Doctor and the Saint,” in B.R. Ambedkar- Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition. Verso, 2014.
  • Gandhi, Rajmohan. “Independence and Social Justice: The Ambedkar Gandhi Debate,” Economic Political Weekly, Vol. L, No. 15 (April 11, 2015).

Pedagogy:

Instructional design:

  • The course will be transacted through a combination of lectures, participation and presentations. The course will also involve field trips to Birla House and Gandhi Smriti Museum.
  • Special needs (facilities, requirements in terms of software, studio, lab, clinic, library, classroom/others instructional space; any other – please specify) None​​​​​​​
  • Expertise in AUD faculty or outside
  • Faculty trained in political science and related disciplines.​​​​​​​
  • Linkages with external agencies (e.g., with field-based organizations, hospital; any others) No

 

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