Description
Book SynopsisTo think in terms of 'alternative modernities' is to admit that modernity is inescapable and to desist from speculations about modernity's end. Modernity is global and multiple and no longer has a Western 'governing center' to accompany it. This collection approaches the dilemmas of modernity from transnational and transcultural perspectives.
Trade Review“Creative and vitally important. The authors don’t just note that modernity is more than a single, homogenous thing, they explore the fissures and fault lines and assess the implications for both scholarly understanding and public discourse. In doing so, they offer a hopeful and intellectually supple alternative to the often repackaged notion of a ‘clash of
civilizations.’ ”—Craig Calhoun, President, Social Science Research Council
“If ‘modernity’ is an invention of the North Atlantic, then so is the desire to escape, negate or transcend it. Going forward would seem to demand that we critically imagine the possibilities of alternative modernities. There is no question more important for cultural studies, or for progressive politics. This volume is a major contribution to this project. It needs to be read and extended.”—Lawrence Grossberg, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Table of ContentsOn Alternative Modernities / Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar 1
Settler Modernity and the Quest for an Indigenous Tradition / Elizabeth A. Povinelli 24
Translation, Imperialism, and National Self-Definition in Russia / Andrew Wachtel 58
Shanghai Modern: Reflections on Urban Culture in China in the 1930s / Leo Ou-fan Lee 86
Adda, Calcutta: Dwelling in Modernity / Dipesh Chakrabarty 123
Miniaturizing Modernity: Shahzia Sikander in Conversation with Homi K. Bhabha / edited by Robert McCarthy 165
Two Theories of Modernity / Charles Taylor 172
On Reconciling Cosmopolitan Unity and National Diversity / Thomas McCarthy 197
Camera Zanzibar / William Cunningham Bissell 237
“Left to the Imagination”: Indian Nationalisms and Female Sexuality in Trinidad / Tejaswini Niranjana 248
Afro-Modernity: Temporality, Politics, and the African Diaspora / Michael Hanchard 272
Modes of Citizenship in Mexico / Claudio Lomnitz 299
Modernist Ruins: National Narratives and Architectural Forms / Beatriz Jaguaribe 327
Contributors 349
Index 353
