Search results for ""author rajagopalan""

In the heated, often rancorous debates that are the "culture wars", identity politics has been at the centre of both popular and academic discussion. In this series of meditations on the relationship between theory and practice, R. Radhakrishnan probes the intersections of poststructuralism and postcoloniality that lie at the heart of contemporary controversies over identity difference. This book records Radhakrishnan's attempt to make theory accountable to the world, even while eschewing narrow methodologies or "isms". Rather than embracing one totalizing point of view, these essays move in the spaces "between" to establish a productive dialogue between different disciplines and critical practices - to elaborate what the author calls "common ground". Considering issues of location, language, tradition, gender, ethnicity, nationalism, colonialism, culture, and history, Radhakrishnan reclaims poststructuralism as a tool for both understanding postcolonial reality and working for social change. Momentous and wise, this book provides thought-provoking considerations of contemporary issues surrounding identity, serving as a map of the postcolonial condition, or, in the author's words, of how to be "both past- and future-oriented within the history of the present".

Read more less

Divided into three parts dealing with environmental crisis and its cause, understanding the crisis, and possible remedial measures, the book provides a balanced understanding of the major issues and concerns related to the environment, both locally in India and globally. From threatened ecosystems, disappearing forests, and endangered species to depleting natural resources, escalating pollution, growing population, and dangerous toxins-the book addresses the major environmental crises confronting us today. Using environment-related stories and real-life cases from the Indian and global contexts, the book illustrates the various problems we encounter in our daily lives, provides possible solutions, and recounts successes and failures. The evocative line drawings and sketches complementing the text often present self-complete stories in themselves. The appendices on further reading (books, magazines, and websites), resources (organizations, etc.), interesting trivia, and a glossary of terms are a special feature of the volume. Aiming to generate increased sensitivity among readers towards environmental issues, it tries to inculcate in us an appreciation of the seriousness of the environmental crisis at the local and global levels.

Read more less