Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 168 views

    The Felt Community - Book Review

    Uploaded by

    uncomfortablydumb
    This document summarizes a book called "The Felt Community" by Rajat Kanta Ray. In 3 sentences: The book addresses the question of what nations were like before nationalism by exploring pre-national India. Rather than imagining an ancient Indian nationalism, the author acknowledges nationalism as novel while arguing some commonality preceded it. The author seeks to avoid essentialism about ancient India having the same national spirit as today, or exaggerating the invented nature of nations according to contemporary academics.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    The Felt Community - Book Review

    Uploaded by

    uncomfortablydumb
    168 views2 pages
    This document summarizes a book called "The Felt Community" by Rajat Kanta Ray. In 3 sentences: The book addresses the question of what nations were like before nationalism by exploring pre-national India. Rather than imagining an ancient Indian nationalism, the author acknowledges nationalism as novel while arguing some commonality preceded it. The author seeks to avoid essentialism about ancient India having the same national spirit as today, or exaggerating the invented nature of nations according to contemporary academics.

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document summarizes a book called "The Felt Community" by Rajat Kanta Ray. In 3 sentences: The book addresses the question of what nations were like before nationalism by exploring pre-national India. Rather than imagining an ancient Indian nationalism, the author acknowledges nationalism as novel while arguing some commonality preceded it. The author seeks to avoid essentialism about ancient India having the same national spirit as today, or exaggerating the invented nature of nations according to contemporary academics.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    168 views2 pages

    The Felt Community - Book Review

    Uploaded by

    uncomfortablydumb
    This document summarizes a book called "The Felt Community" by Rajat Kanta Ray. In 3 sentences: The book addresses the question of what nations were like before nationalism by exploring pre-national India. Rather than imagining an ancient Indian nationalism, the author acknowledges nationalism as novel while arguing some commonality preceded it. The author seeks to avoid essentialism about ancient India having the same national spirit as today, or exaggerating the invented nature of nations according to contemporary academics.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Qalandar: BOOK REVIEW: The Felt Community (2002) http://qalandari.blogspot.com/2007/03/book-review-felt-community-20...

    Partager Signaler un abus Blog suivant» Créer un blog Connexion

    Sunday, March 25, 2007


    BOOK REVIEW: The Felt Community (2002)
    The Felt Community: Commonality and Mentality Before the
    Emergence of Indian Nationalism, Rajat Kanta Ray (Oxford
    University Press, November 2002 (India); January 2003
    (U.S.A.)

    Rajat Kanta Ray's insightful and deeply learned book "addresses a


    knotty old question: what were nations like before nationalism?"
    (Preface, ix). More specifically, what was India like before
    nationalism? In exploring possible answers to this question, Ray
    eschews the essentialism of those who imagine an Indian
    nationalism, a "national spirit" extending in an unbroken line from
    ancient times to the present day, but is no less skeptical of "the
    exaggerated stress on the invented, imagined, or constructed
    element of the nation" that according to Ray is characteristic of the
    contemporary academic left (Pg. 7). In other words, Ray astutely
    recognizes that even after one acknowledges the difference that
    nationalism makes, the novelty that is nationalism, one is
    nevertheless left with the problem that "Nothing can come of
    nothing." That is, there need be no necessary tension between
    the position that nationalism and the formation of nation-states --

    1 of 2 04/09/2010 23:44
    Qalandar: BOOK REVIEW: The Felt Community (2002) http://qalandari.blogspot.com/2007/03/book-review-felt-community-20...

    Twits and twittering


    follow me on Twitter

    Recent Posts
    On Terrorism & Culture (A
    Response to Manan Ahmed's
    Essay)
    A Note on INCEPTION
    (English; 2010)
    A discussion on ISHQIYA
    (Hindi; 2010)
    BOOK REVIEW: "My Life With
    The Taliban" by Abdul Salaam
    Zaeef
    On the Star's Gesture...

    Recent Comments
    Followers

    Blog Archive

    Other Dervishes
    Wonders in the Dark
    Under the Fire Star
    SATYAMSHOT
    Naach Gaana
    CHAPATI MYSTERY
    Baradwaj Rangan on Films
    ART IS PRETTY

    About Me
    Qalandar
    View my complete profile

    2 of 2 04/09/2010 23:44

    You might also like