Key Concepts in Modern Indian Studies

Modern Indian studies have become a site for new, creative, and thought-provoking debates extending over a broad canvas of crucial issues. As a result of socio-political transformations, certain conceptsasuch as Ahimsa, Caste, Darshan, and Raceahave taken on different meanings.

Bringing together ideas, issues, and debates salient to modern Indian studies, this volume charts out the social, cultural, political, and economic processes at work in the subcontinent. Authored by internationally recognized experts, this work consists of over one hundred individual entries on concepts central to their respective fields of specialization, highlighting crucial issues and debates in a lucid and concise manner.

Each concept is accompanied by a critical analysis of its trajectory and a succinct discussion of its significance in the academic arena as well as in the public sphere. Enhancing the shared framework of understanding about the Indian subcontinent, Key Concepts in Modern Indian Studies will provide the reader with insights into vital debates about the region, underscoring the compelling issues of colonialism and postcolonialism.

Gita Dharampal-Frick is Professor of South Asian history at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Her research deals with topics ranging from pre-modern transcultural interactions between Europe and India, to the socio-cultural and political history of the colonial period.

Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach is Professor at University Konstanz, Germany. Her areas of interest are human rights theory, constitutional theory, ethics of tolerance, philosophy of nationalism, history of ideas, intercultural philosophy, and Indian philosophy.

Rachel Dwyer is Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her main research interest is in Hindi cinema, where she has published on film magazines and popular fiction; consumerism and the new middle classes; love and eroticism; visual culture; religion; emotions; Gandhi and the biopic; and Hindi cinema in East Africa and in the UK.

Jahnavi Phalkey is Lecturer in History of Science and Technology at the India Institute, Kingas College London. She specializes in the history of modern physical sciences, history of statistics, and in global history.