Getting Past Orientalism
Gandhi, Multiculturalism, and Identity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.v27i2.195Keywords:
Orientalism, Gandhi, MulticulturalismAbstract
This paper considers the issue of multiculturalism through an examination of the way Gandhi’s relationship with the West has been understood. This discussion of Gandhi, the West, and multiculturalism proceeds in an historical framework. It begins by offering a short characterization of the way many, though certainly not all, Europeans involved in the colonial project understood their relationship with India and Indians. This provides the necessary context to sketch the postcolonial critic of Europe’s engagement with India, as well as to show how Gandhi actively played upon Western cultural values in his own thinking. The author argues that these two ways, “the colonial and the postcolonial” are insufficient for understanding Gandhi’s views on identity and multiculturalism. Instead, drawing on the work of Amartya Sen, a third option is proposed. This third option casts the concept of multiculturalism and our understanding of Gandhi in a new light.
References
Clarke, J.J. 1997 Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter Between Asian and Western Thought. London: Routledge.
Hawley, Michael. 2005 Reorienting Tradition: Radhakrishnan’s Hinduism. In Historicizing’ Tradition’ in the Study of Religion, edited by Steven Engler and Greg P. Grieve, 287–318. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Inden, Ronald. 1986 Orientalist Constructions of India. Modern Asian Studies. 20(3): 401–402. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00007800
King, Richard. 1999 Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India and “The Mystic East.” London: Routledge.
Metcalf, Thomas. 1995 Ideologies of the Raj. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521395472
Parel, Anthony J., ed. 1997 Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
Rambachan, Anantanand. 1994 The Limits of Scripture: Vivekananda’s Reinterpretation of the Vedas. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Said, Edward. 1985 Orientalism. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Sen, Amartya. 2005 The Argumentative India: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity. New York: Picador.
Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. New York: W.W. Norton.
