Abstract

This book evaluates the promise of human progress and secularism in grand political narratives of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, comparing counter-narratives of South Asia within the context of a fast-changing twenty-first century. Embracing a broad range of sources and theoretical approaches that include philosophy, film and ideological discourse analysis, this book charts the optimism of a secular future and eradication of human miseries through to the Second World War and subsequent post-war condition of the twentieth century, resulting in newly independent nation states such as India. By the end of the twentieth century, global inequality and a significant growth of religious and majoritarian nationalisms has been appended with a protracted economic slowdown and recession in many countries. Analysing what went wrong in terms of secularism and distributive justice throughout India and the wider South Asian region, this book critiques Enlightenment visions of democracy, global capitalism and their so-called universality, instead proposing a progressive vision of a secular future of the Indian people. Reconsidering alternatives to capitalism, secularism and the radical possibilities of political Islam, Political Narratives and South Asian Counter Narratives will appeal to students and scholars of political science, political theory, international relations, global history, South Asian politics and cultural studies more broadly.