LEADER 04379nam 22006134a 450 001 9910960741203321 005 20251116150951.0 010 $a0-8135-7108-1 010 $a0-8135-3634-0 035 $a(CKB)1000000000031399 035 $a(OCoLC)614571252 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10075372 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000229352 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11174936 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000229352 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10187656 035 $a(PQKB)10194085 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3032120 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3032120 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10075372 035 $a(OCoLC)56823182 035 $a(BIP)77576549 035 $a(BIP)8519392 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000031399 100 $a20030314d2003 ub 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aProphets facing backward $epostmodern critiques of science and Hindu nationalism in India /$fMeera Nanda 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aNew Brunswick, N.J. $cRutgers University Press$dc2003 215 $a1 online resource (329 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 08$a0-8135-3357-0 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 281-298) and index. 327 $aIntro -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Preface -- Chapter 1: Prophets Facing Backward: Betrayal of the Clerks -- Chapter 2: Dharma and the Bomb: Reactionary Modernism in India -- Chapter 3: Vedic Science, Part One: Legitimation of the Hindu Nationalist Worldview -- Chapter 4: Vedic Science, Part Two: Philosophical Justi.cation of Vedic Science -- Chapter 5: Epistemic Charity: Equality of All "Ethnosciences" -- Chapter 6: We are All Hybrids Now!: Paths to Reactionary Modernism -- Chapter 7: A Dalit Defense of the Deweyan-Buddhist View of Science -- Chapter 8: The Battle for Scientific Temper in India's New Social Movements -- Chapter 9: The Ecofeminist Critique of the Green Revolution -- Chapter 10: The "Hindu Left," Agrarian Populism, and the Hindu Right -- Chapter 11: Conclusion: Prophets Facing Forward -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author. 330 $aThe leading voices in science studies have argued that modern science reflects dominant social interests of Western society. Following this logic, postmodern scholars have urged postcolonial societies to develop their own "alternative sciences" as a step towards "mental decolonization." These ideas have found a warm welcome among Hindu nationalists who came to power in India in the early 1990s. In this passionate and highly original study, Indian-born author Meera Nanda reveals how these well-meaning but ultimately misguided ideas are enabling Hindu ideologues to propagate religious myths in the guise of science and secularism. At the heart of Hindu supremacist ideology, Nanda argues, lies a postmodernist assumption: that each society has its own norms of reasonableness, logic, rules of evidence, and conception of truth, and that there is no non-arbitrary, culture-independent way to choose among these alternatives. What is being celebrated as "difference" by postmodernists, however, has more often than not been the source of mental bondage and authoritarianism in non-Western cultures. The "Vedic sciences" currently endorsed in Indian schools, colleges, and the mass media promotes the same elements of orthodox Hinduism that have for centuries deprived the vast majority of Indian people of their full humanity. By denouncing science and secularization, the left was unwittingly contributing to what Nanda calls "reactionary modernism." In contrast, Nanda points to the Dalit, or untouchable, movement as a true example of an "alternative science" that has embraced reason and modern science to challenge traditional notions of hierarchy. 606 $aScience$zIndia$xHistory$y20th century 606 $aNationalism$zIndia 606 $aScience$xPhilosophy$xHistory$y20th century 615 0$aScience$xHistory 615 0$aNationalism 615 0$aScience$xPhilosophy$xHistory 676 $a509.54/09/04 700 $aNanda$b Meera$01868766 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910960741203321 996 $aProphets facing backward$94476775 997 $aUNINA