What is modern India? This question was at the heart of author and historian Ananya Vajpeyi鈥檚 presentation Tuesday at the 麻豆原创. The event, which drew about 75 people, was organized and hosted by the 麻豆原创 Global Perspectives Office and The India Center at 麻豆原创.
Vajpeyi, born in New Delhi and raised in both India and Mexico, attended universities in India, England and the United States. Describing herself as often caught between Western society and her Indian heritage, she drew parallels between her own sense of identity and that of India. During colonial rule, she said, a disconnect occurred between the population and its religious and cultural traditions.
In her new book, 鈥淩ighteous Republic: The Political Foundations of Modern India,鈥� which she referenced during her presentation, Vajpeyi seeks to remedy that problem. She identified several of India鈥檚 most influential figures who contributed to what she termed a modern and unique 鈥淚ndian selfhood.鈥� They included Mohandas Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru and B.R Ambedkar.
All five, Vajpeyi said, drew from the past to answer the question of India鈥檚 identity in a modernizing world. For instance, she suggested, Nehru used texts from the first republic and their self-aspiration to connect to an original quest and capacity for 鈥渟waraj,鈥� or sovereignty. According to Vajpeyi, an examination of such historic texts allows for ethnic identity to return. The other founders, she pointed out, used art, architecture, religion and poetry to connect India鈥檚 past to its present.
Vajpeyi, who is a fellow at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, noted that because of the five individuals mentioned above, India鈥檚 democracy represents a resolution between Western influences and its own vibrant culture.
When asked about the effects of English colonization on modern-day India, Vajpeyi answered, 鈥淭he country, as we know it, would not have been the same if it were not for the contact between two cultures.鈥�
In addition to the Global Perspectives Office and The India Center, sponsors and partners included The India Group, Anil and Chitra Deshpande India Program Endowed Fund, 麻豆原创 Diplomacy Program, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, CliftonLarsonAllen, Orlando Area Committee on Foreign Relations, 麻豆原创 International Services Center, 麻豆原创 Political Science Department, 麻豆原创 Women鈥檚 Studies Program, 麻豆原创 Women鈥檚 Research Center, 麻豆原创 LIFE, 麻豆原创 Book Festival 2013 in association with the Morgridge International Reading Center and the Global Connections Foundation.