The doctor and the saint : caste, race, and annihilation of caste, the debate between b.r. ambedkar and m.k. gandhi / Arundhati Roy.
"Democracy hasn't eradicated caste," writes Arundhati Roy. "It has entrenched and modernized it." To best understand caste today in India, Roy insists we must examine the influence of Gandhi in shaping what India ultimately became: independent of British rule, globally power...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Chicago :
Haymarket Books,
2017.
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| Subjects: | |
| Local Note: | ProQuest Ebook Central |
| Summary: | "Democracy hasn't eradicated caste," writes Arundhati Roy. "It has entrenched and modernized it." To best understand caste today in India, Roy insists we must examine the influence of Gandhi in shaping what India ultimately became: independent of British rule, globally powerful, and marked to this day by the caste system. ""For more than half a century-throughout his adult life-[Gandhi's] pronouncements on the inherent qualities of black Africans, untouchables and the laboring classes remained consistently insulting, "" writes Roy. ""His refusal to allow working-class people and untouchables to create their own political organizations and elect their own representatives remained consistent too."" In The Doctor and the Saint, Roy reveals some uncomfortable, even controversial, truths about the political thought and career of India's most famous, and most revered figure. At the same time, Roy makes clear that what millions of Indians need is not merely formal democracy, but liberation from the oppression, shame, and poverty imposed on them by India's archaic caste system. Praise for Arundhati Roy ""Arundhati Roy is incandescent in her brilliance and her fearlessness.""--Junot DIaz ""The fierceness with which Arundhati Roy loves humanity moves my heart.""--Alice Walker Arundhati Roy studied architecture in New Delhi, where she now lives. She is the author of the novel The God of Small Things, for which she received the 1997 Booker Prize. The novel has been translated into forty languages worldwide. She has written several non-fiction books, including Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers and Capitalism: A Ghost Story. "To best understand and address the inequality in India today, Arundhati Roy insists we must examine both the political development and influence of M.K. Gandhi and why B.R. Ambedkar's brilliant challenge to his near-divine status was suppressed by India's elite. In Roy's analysis, we see that Ambedkar's fight for justice was systematically sidelined in favor of policies that reinforced caste, resulting in the current nation of India: independent of British rule, globally powerful, and marked to this day by the caste system. This book situates Ambedkar's arguments in their vital historical context-- namely, as an extended public political debate with Mohandas Gandhi. "For more than half a century--throughout his adult life--[Gandhi's] pronouncements on the inherent qualities of black Africans, untouchables and the laboring classes remained consistently insulting," writes Roy. "His refusal to allow working-class people and untouchables to create their own political organizations and elect their own representatives remained consistent too." In The Doctor and the Saint, Roy exposes some uncomfortable, controversial, and even surprising truths about the political thought and career of India's most famous and most revered figure. In doing so she makes the case for why Ambedkar's revolutionary intellectual achievements must be resurrected, not only in India but throughout the world."-- |
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| Item Description: | Title from resource description page (Recorded Books, viewed March 20, 2017). "First published as the introduction to Ambedkar, Annihilation of caste : the annotated critical edition, in 2014 by Navayana Publishing Pvt. Ltd."--Title page verso. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 149-160) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781608467983 1608467988 9781608467976 160846797X |