Secularism and Absence of Theory
[Published in Economic and Political Theory, 37(51):5142-5142] A text like my article on the secularism debate (EPW, September 28, 2002), is something more than a sequence of sentences. This is a…
Read moreThe Vacuity of Secularism
[Published in Economic and Political Weekly, 37: 4047-4053] On the Indian Debate and Its Western Origins The rise of Hindutva has often been interpreted as a threat to the secular state.…
Read moreThe Question of Conversion in India
[Published in Economic and Political Weekly, 40(28):3048-55] The Indian debate on religious conversion has been an ongoing one for a few centuries now. However, the mutual understanding between the advocates…
Read moreSecularism, Colonialism and Indian Intellectuals
In the last few decades, “secularism” has become the subject of caustic debate in the Indian media. The dispute about the value of this idea to contemporary India is no…
Read moreFacing the challenge of American Pluralism on the future of NRI community
In years to come, the Indian community in the U.S. will face a major challenge from American pluralism. This is the first time a powerful community of pagans has to be accommodated…
Read moreTowards a positive portrayal of Hindu traditions?
What is at stake in the California textbook controversy? Few would agree that it concerns only the image of Hinduism as offered to the pupils of the California state schools.…
Read moreChristian Attitudes and The Rule of Law as the Mechanism of Secularization
1. So far, our answers have always taken this form: in the moment of secularization, the formal structures or cognitive schemes of Christianity are diffused accordingly as they lose their specific doctrinal content.…
Read moreBankruptcy of postcolonial intellectuals and their defense of secularism
We have developed partial explanations of why the secularism debate in India takes such peculiar forms and why otherwise intelligent people talk nonsense here. But we don’t do so by…
Read moreIndian Americans and Identity Politics
We do not have any clear explanation of the nature and rise of American identity politics as yet. But here are a few speculative intuitions: 1. Identity politics seems to…
Read moreThe absence of supernatural entities in Indian traditions
1. The absence of supernatural entities in the Indian traditions may seem counterintuitive to many. We can let someone else do the talking for us, namely Dale B. Martin in…
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