Gandhi's Body Sex, Diet, and the Politics of Nationalism
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr
- Publish date: 06/01/2000
In this original and provocative study, Joseph Alter demonstrates that these seemingly idiosyncratic aspects of Gandhi's personal life are of central importance to understanding his politics -- and not only Gandhi's politics, but Indian nationalism in general. Using the Mahatma's own writings, Alter places Gandhi's bodily practices in the context of his philosophy; for example, he explores the relationship between Gandhi's fasting and his ideas about the metaphysics of emptiness and the link between his celibacy and his beliefs about nonviolence. Alter also places Gandhi's ideas and practices in their national and transnational contexts. He discusses how and why nature cure became extremely popular in India during the early part of the twentieth century, tracing the influence of two German naturopaths on Gandhi's thinkingand on the practice of yoga in India. More important, he argues that the reconstruction of yoga in terms of European naturopathy was brought about deliberately by a number of activists in India -- of whom Gandhi was only the most visible -- interested in creating a "scientific" health regimen, distinct from Western precedents, that would make the Indian people fit for self-rule. Gandhi's Body counters established arguments that Indian nationalism was either a completely indigenous Hindu-based movement or simply a derivative of Western ideals.
Seller | Condition | Comments | Price |
|
HPB-Red
Good
|
$30.96
|
mr_misanthropy
|
Good |
$33.52
|
|
BGV Books LLC
Good
|
$34.10
|
Ergodebooks
|
Good |
$36.00
|
Ergodebooks_N
|
Good |
$44.01
|