A01=Partha Chatterjee
Author_Partha Chatterjee
Category=JP
Category=JPA
Category=NHF
Category=NHTQ
Category=NHTR1
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eq_history
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eq_nobargain
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eq_society-politics
history
political science
Product details
- ISBN 9780231224277
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 05 May 2026
- Publisher: Columbia University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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From the forging of a constitution for the postindependence republic to the reign of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party today, the idea of India as a nation-state has predominated. Yet the country encompasses a vast diversity of communities, regions, languages, and cultures, calling into question any unitary identity.
In this magisterial account of Indian politics over the past seventy-five years, the renowned scholar Partha Chatterjee challenges common notions of “state” and “nation,” arguing for a more capacious understanding of “the people.” He examines the varying trajectories of the Indian nation-state, as opposed to what he calls the “people-nation,” analyzing the complex connections between the two. Chatterjee offers a persuasive political-economic analysis of the transition from the time of developmental planning to the present era of capitalist dominance. He combines keen analysis of changing caste-class-gender formations in the country’s diverse regions with a close examination of the uneven spread of India’s capitalist economy.
By looking beyond the nation-state, this book unveils many hidden aspects of Indian politics today—and makes a powerful case for a future in which the federal system respects the equal worth of each part of the country.
In this magisterial account of Indian politics over the past seventy-five years, the renowned scholar Partha Chatterjee challenges common notions of “state” and “nation,” arguing for a more capacious understanding of “the people.” He examines the varying trajectories of the Indian nation-state, as opposed to what he calls the “people-nation,” analyzing the complex connections between the two. Chatterjee offers a persuasive political-economic analysis of the transition from the time of developmental planning to the present era of capitalist dominance. He combines keen analysis of changing caste-class-gender formations in the country’s diverse regions with a close examination of the uneven spread of India’s capitalist economy.
By looking beyond the nation-state, this book unveils many hidden aspects of Indian politics today—and makes a powerful case for a future in which the federal system respects the equal worth of each part of the country.
Partha Chatterjee is professor emeritus of anthropology and of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies at Columbia University and honorary professor of political science at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. His recent books include I Am the People: Reflections on Popular Sovereignty Today (Columbia, 2019).
