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It explores the links with and differences from Buddhism, Jainism and other religions, and describes the resurgence of Hindu extremism, the phenomenon of Bollywood and the overseas Hindu diaspora.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49553169875217,"sku":"GOR002845155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49601819803921,"sku":"GOR013765056","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50401757987089,"sku":"CIN184046626XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/184046626X.jpg?v=1772275027"},{"product_id":"empire-of-knowledge-book-vinay-lal-9780745317366","title":"Empire of Knowledge","description":"During the media frenzy over the Millennium celebrations, there was hardly any mention of the fact that, for the majority of the world, there was no Millennium at all. This linear understanding of time is a specifically Western - and Christian - concept.     This is just one of many examples that Vinay Lal uses to demonstrate that nearly every idea which we take for granted in the west is part of a politics of ideas. Oppression is usually associated with class struggle and other forms of economic monopoly. Lal looks beyond this, deconstructing the cultural assumptions that have emerged alongside capitalism to offer a devastating critique of the politics of knowledge at the heart of all powerbroking.    Other topics examined are the concept of 'development', which has provided a mandate for surreptitious colonisation; and the idea of the 'nation state', something we have lived with for no more than two centuries, yet is accepted without question. Linking this to the emergence of 'international governance' through the United Nations, the US, and imperial economic bodies (such as the IMF and WTO),  Lal explains how such universalism came to dominate the trajectory of Western thought.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49623419945233,"sku":"GOR013687808","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51909404918033,"sku":"CIN0745317367G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0745317367.jpg?v=1751263466"},{"product_id":"insurgency-and-the-artist-book-vinay-lal-9789392130885","title":"Insurgency and The Artist","description":"Insurgency and the Artist explores not merely how Indian printmakers and artists responded to the freedom struggle but also how the art they fashioned invoked their own conception of the nation, their sense of the past, and the contours of the movement for India’s emancipation from the yoke of colonial oppression. Recent scholarly work has been almost entirely riveted on nationalist prints, and much of it has focused on the idea of Bharat Mata, but this book seeks to furnish a more rounded account of the artwork — including etchings, paintings, woodblocks prints, and cartoons — contemporary to the freedom struggle and also highlights the work of neglected artists such as Babuji Shilpi, S.L. Parasher, Zainul Abedin, and M.V. Dhurandhar, among others. The author considers how the Indian past was rendered as one of martial resistance to ‘foreign’ rule, the manner in which artists worked with mythic material, and, of course, the treatment of the larger-than-life figures of Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Subhas Bose, and other patriots in nationalist art. This gloriously illustrated work simultaneously offers a narrative history of the freedom struggle and the rich interplay of text and images is designed to offer insights that neither conventional histories nor images can offer in isolation. Insurgency and the Artist is also an inquiry into how ideas travel across borders, the porousness of culture, and the relationship of art to politics.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49750970728721,"sku":"NGR9789392130885","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52656593502481,"sku":"NLS9789392130885","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9392130880.jpg?v=1751129056"},{"product_id":"india-and-its-intellectual-traditions-of-love-advaita-power-and-other-things-book-vinay-lal-9780198887164","title":"India and Its Intellectual Traditions: Of Love, Advaita, Power, and Other Things","description":"The book, the third volume to emerge from the enterprise known as 'The Backwaters Collective on Metaphysics and Politics', attempts to further the collective's ambition to put into question the certitudes of conventional social science discourse, decolonize the dominant knowledge frameworks, and understand how the intellectual and cultural resources of Indian civilization may be deployed to think both, about some problems in contemporary politics and culture, and to introduce greater plurality into the world of modern knowledge systems. Some of the collective's members remain deeply committed to reinitiating metaphysics into politics, and similarly, the collective's enduring interest in Narayana Guru is reflected in at least three chapters. Although engagement with Gandhi and Ambedkar is a familiar part of the Indian intellectual landscape, other chapters on offer pivot around histories of power, performative traditions, and modes of worship. Unlike the scholarship that is now the norm, organized around a distinct theme, this volume exhibits a more daring approach to India's intellectual traditions, traversing the world of Kannada intellectuals, the Kashmir Shaiva tradition, a Marathi Bhakti poet, and a contemporary Indian philosopher, as much as conceptual ideas drawn from a wide array of Indian texts and experiences.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51000126669073,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000129519889,"sku":"NIN9780198887164","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0198887167.jpg?v=1751164293"},{"product_id":"colonial-state-and-forms-of-knowledge-book-vinay-lal-9789355721723","title":"The Colonial State and Forms of Knowledge","description":"Easy Peasy follows Ruby, who has just received sparkly roller skates as a present from her dad. Ruby is convinced it will be easy to learn how to roller skate and dismisses her dad when he offers to help her. But after a few tumbles, Ruby realises it isn't as easy as she thinks and that she might need his help after all  Embracing themes of independence, perseverance, and family relationships, Easy Peasy is a fun, engaging story for children learning how to do something for the first time.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51066521714961,"sku":"NIN9789355721723","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51157405827345,"sku":"NGR9789355721723","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52352672104721,"sku":"NLS9789355721723","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9355721722.jpg?v=1751191872"},{"product_id":"deewar-the-foothpath-the-city-and-the-angry-young-man-book-vinay-lal-9789350290231","title":"Deewar : The Foothpath, the City and the Angry Young Man","description":"Yash Chopra's 1975 film, Deewaar, one of the most iconic and influential works of superstar Amitabh Bachchan, has been (to borrow a line from the film itself) the 'lambi race ka ghoda', enjoying a nearly unrivalled popularity in the long history of Hindi cinema. Its remarkable plot, crisp dialogues and epic narrative structure, revolving around the familiar story of two brothers whose paths diverge and lead to a fatal collision, have endeared it to millions. And its most famous line, 'Mere paas ma hai', has been endlessly imitated, parodied and referenced in cinematic and cultural works. However, as Vinay Lal demonstrates in his study of Deewaar, the film lends itself to much more complex readings than is commonly imagined. Examining it in the context of the history of Hindi cinema, the migrations from the hinterland to the city, and the political and socio-economic climate of the early 1970s, he draws attention to Deewaar's dialectic of the footpath and skyscraper, the mesmerizing presence of the tattoo, the frequent appearance of the signature and the film's deep structuring in mythic material. 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The members and friends of the Collective are animated by various passions: though some are interested in the decolonization of the university and in exploring other sites of learning, and others wish to put into serious question the most familiar categories that have informed humanistic inquiry and social science research, they are united both in their quest to engender an ecological plurality of knowledges and reinitiate metaphysics into the discourses of politics. The authors of the papers in this volume offer perspectives on India's past and intellectual traditions that suggest how we might liberate ourselves from the straightjackets of history, development, normal politics, the nation-state, and what globally passes for 'common sense' in various spheres of life and thought.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52629774762257,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52629775319313,"sku":"NIN9780199499069","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780199499069.jpg?v=1761771920"},{"product_id":"gandhi-truth-and-nonviolence-book-vinay-lal-9780198936626","title":"Gandhi, Truth, and Nonviolence","description":"The anthology presents a diverse array of essays delving into Gandhi's political activities, ethical beliefs, and philosophical stance. 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