ABSTRACT

This volume develops a unique framework to understand India through indigenous and European perspectives, and examines how it copes with the larger challenges of a globalized world. Through a discussion of religious and philosophical traditions, cultural developments as well as contemporary theatre, films and media, it explores the manner in which India negotiates the trials of globalization. It also focuses upon India’s school and education system, its limitations and successes, and how it prepares to achieve social inclusion. The work further shows how contemporary societies in both India and Europe deal with cultural diversity and engage with the tensions between tendencies towards homogenization and diversity.

This eclectic collection on what it is to be a part of global network will be of interest to scholars and researchers of South Asian studies, philosophy, sociology, culture studies, and religion.

chapter |34 pages

Introduction

Exploring alterity in a globalized world

part I|149 pages

Religion, Philosophy and Culture

chapter 1|22 pages

Kali's Daughters

The tantric conception of the divine feminine as an emancipatory role model for hindu women

chapter 3|15 pages

Re-Reading Gandhi for a Reformed Knowing

Where to put that Little Inner Voice?

chapter 4|21 pages

Education for a Better World?

Gandhi's ideas on education and their relevance in modern India

chapter 6|14 pages

Cultivating Simplicity as a Way of Life

Insights from a study about everyday lives of Tibetan-Buddhist child monks in Ladakh

part II|75 pages

Dance, Theatre and Media

chapter 10|19 pages

The Commune-Ist Air: Living the Everyday in Times of Struggle

The case of the Indian People's Theatre Association's Central Squad

chapter 11|10 pages

Finding a Path

Notes on political forms between locality and globality in India's contemporary ‘art world’

chapter 12|25 pages

The Message of their Pictures

An essay on photographs taken by Indian auto-rickshaw drivers

part III|140 pages

Education, Self-Education and Human Development

chapter 14|14 pages

In Line

A photo essay on entering a school in Bangalore 1

chapter 15|23 pages

Going to School in India

An ethnographical research at two schools in Bangalore

chapter 16|17 pages

‘The Treasure of Life Lies in Hard Work' 1

Insights into the discursive practices of becoming educated and developed in schools in South India

chapter 18|17 pages

Sugarcane Migration and the Impact on Education

A perspective on seasonal migration in Maharashtra and the linkage to children's education

chapter 19|21 pages

Educational Experiences of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education

A case study of a German university 1

chapter 21|10 pages

Perception and Inference

part IV|105 pages

Homogenization Versus Diversity

chapter 23|15 pages

Socialisation in the Context of Globalisation

How adolescents in India deal with global processes

chapter 25|7 pages

The New and Young Indian Middleclass

Life between traditions and Western values

chapter 26|13 pages

Risk-Taking and Entrepreneurship in India

Implications of social and cultural norms for poverty alleviation policies

chapter 27|14 pages

Thinking about Climate Change

Young people from Ladakh responding to global warming: an explorative study

chapter 28|12 pages

Health Promotion and Diversity

Theoretical reflections and personal experiences in everyday India 1

chapter 29|11 pages

Absence of a Presence

Text, pedagogy and social anthropology in Northeast India

chapter 30|16 pages

Dispositions as Properties

Irrelevance of functional characterization