DOCSLIB.ORG

© 2017 Irina Spector-Marks

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
© 2017 Irina Spector-Marks © 2017 Irina Spector-Marks CIRCUITS OF IMPERIAL CITIZENSHIP: INDIAN PRINT CULTURE AND THE POLITICS OF RACE, 1890-1914 BY IRINA SPECTOR-MARKS DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Antoinette Burton, Chair Associate Professor Teresa Barnes Associate Professor James Brennan Professor Isabel Hofmeyr, University of Witswatersand Associate Professor Dana Rabin Abstract At the turn of the twentieth century, Indian immigrants throughout the British empire faced a rise in discriminatory legislation. They responded by asserting that as imperial citizens, Indians should be treated equally with white British subjects. Although imperial citizenship had no fixed legal meaning, Indian activists invoked imperial citizenship as a legal status and as an identity that carried racial and civilizational overtones. Through a close reading of iterations of imperial citizenship across a wide range of print culture sources, I show how imperial citizenship, although ostensibly race-blind, was an implicitly racialized discourse. Based on research from archives in Ottawa, Vancouver, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria, and London, I map how the discourse of imperial citizenship circulated across the empire in a transnational print sphere of periodicals, pamphlets, and petitions. By focusing on the work of activists in Canada and South Africa, I explore the ways in which local political and racial contexts precluded the potential for material forms of transnational collaboration. My dissertation nuances the “transnational turn” in the humanities by emphasizing the role of local factors in shaping larger global politics. By analyzing both the discourse of imperial citizenship and the material production and dissemination of that discourse, this dissertation argues that diasporic Indians navigated the global color line by aspiring to whiteness in the name of an imperial citizenship that was founded on racial discrimination while purporting to stand for equality and justice. By bringing together scholarship on citizenship, empire, immigration, and whiteness, my research reveals the complex and contradictory development of anti-racist politics in the early twentieth century. ii For dad And I’m the only son of a gun who’s left to tell the tale iii Acknowledgements It is a truism amongst academics that all dissertation is autobiography. As a white woman from the United States, I was often asked why I was studying Indian immigrants in the British empire. While I had many reasons for choosing this topic, the personal stakes of the project were driven home to me as I sat on my bed in Durban on June 26, 2013. I had stayed home from the archives in order to have internet access as I waited on tenterhooks for the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. With DOMA overturned, I booked a flight to St. Paul where my partner was staying with her family. We were married on August 10 and filed for her green card on August 12, just weeks before her student visa was due to expire. I then returned to the archives in Pretoria to finish out my research year investigating immigrant activists and the ways they had combated discrimination. This research has been a labor of love, for the topic and the political and intellectual problems it poses, but also for all those individuals, known and unknown, who have struggled to choose a home for themselves in the face of governmental prejudice. It has not been a labor I have completed alone, however. In these pages, I wish to thank those who have supported my work. I am particularly lucky to have many individuals in my life who have done both intellectual and emotional labor to help me through this process. The History Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign provided an intellectual home throughout my years in the PhD program. Antoinette Burton has known with unerring accuracy when to challenge and when to nurture. Her impact on my intellectual coming-of-age has been immense and invaluable. I am incredibly grateful to have her as a mentor and a friend. Dana Rabin shared her knowledge of British history alongside advice as to how to survive as an East Coast Jew in Urbana, Illinois. I treasure her insights, hugs, and humor. iv Terri Barnes has supported and critiqued this project since its earliest incarnation in my first-year paper. She also valiantly agreed to mentor my global history prelim and was a key interlocutor as I conceptualized the role of Africa in global history. Jim Brennan introduced me to the history of the Indian Ocean littoral and is always ready with a book recommendation (or three!). From the first time we met, Isabel Hofmeyr has graciously given her time and thought to this project, opening her home in Johannesburg to me and carrying on a trans-Atlantic conversation about the vagaries of early twentieth century periodicals. My first-year cohort gave me a set of life-long comrades who supported me through and beyond our graduate program, including Zach Sell, Scott Harrison, Milos Jovanovic, and Emily Pope-Obeda. T. J. Tallie gave me wonderful guidance, not only as my first-year mentor at Illinois, but also in providing a myriad of introductions for me in South Africa. Rachel Heeter Smith filled long car rides to Baltimore and almost equally long skype sessions from London with her enthusiasm for history and the wider world. Institutional support from the University of Illinois and other institutions made this project possible. The Graduate College Illinois Distinguished Fellowship launched me in graduate school and subsequent fellowships from the history department allowed me to travel to South Africa, Canada, and Britain to complete extensive archival research. The Doris G. Quinn Foundation Fellowship gave me time to complete the writing of the dissertation. Teaching undergraduates at the University of Illinois in Global History, Western Civilization, and British History courses helped me articulate important points at key moments during the ideation of the project. There really is nothing like teaching to clarify one’s thoughts and I am grateful to the professors, fellow TAs, and students with whom I worked, especially Antoinette Burton, v Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Elizabeth Quick and Zsuzsa Madgo. The staff in the history department at Illinois, especialy Shannon Croft, walked me through every step of the process. Research overseas can be an exhausting and alienating experience and I am grateful to everyone who helped to make temporary homes in Ottawa, Vancouver, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria, and London. Mr. Chetty at the Gandhi Luthuli Documentation Centre generously allowed me to take material over to the Killie Campbell Africana Library when the lightbulb on his microfilm reader broke on my first day there. Likewise, Senzo Mkhize at Killie Campbell allowed to me to hog his microfilm machine for weeks on end while I worked through Colonial Indian News and African Chronicle. Goolam Vahed helped me to acquire an affiliation with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, shared with me his digital copies of Indian Opinion (a real life-saver), and introduced me to UKZN’s history department colloquia. Kilpana Hiralal, Julie Parle, and others at UKZN discussed my research and gave me pointers and encouragement. Renisa Mawani gave me an opportunity to come back to British Columbia by inviting me to the Charting Imperial Itineraries conference, where the organizers and contributors had an amazing weekend of conversations and collaboration that led to the edited collection Charting Imperial Itineraries, edited by Renisa, Satwinder Bains, Davina Bhandar, and Rita Kaur Damoon. Others gave me a literal home while I was travelling. Cailin Hedderwick kept me sane (or, barring that, at least shared insanity with me) and became a lifelong friend during the few short months we had together in Durban. Her mother, Fiona Hedderwick, let me stay at her house during my two weeks in Pietermaritzburg—above and beyond the call of duty! Tim Ames and Barbara Wright took in and put up their long-lost niece during her time in Vancouver. vi I have an amazing family, of both the biological and the chosen variety. The extended Landman-Baylin-Spector clan has watched my intellectual career with loving encouragement and always made a place at the table for me when I could pull my head out of a book. Mary, Leon, Sophie, and Rhea didn’t make it to grad school with me but they imbued me from a young age with a sense of pride in my scholastic achievements. Amanda Spector has stuck by me through thick and thin, in spite of my perennial refusal to answer the phone. Herman Bennett and Jennifer Morgan nurtured my love of history from an age when it was expressed through dolls and tea parties rather then historiographical debates. Derek Attig has been my confidant and my hero throughout the later years of grad school. He’s been immensely patient with all my questions as I navigated the ins and outs of the dissertation process. More importantly, he’s shown me how to find the life that makes me happy, rather than the one that I thought ought to make me happy. Ashley Hetrick and I knew we were kindred spirits approximately ten minutes after the first time we talked. Derek and Ashley also fed (literally and figuratively) me and Eszter when we couldn’t feed ourselves. Christine Ruggere and I have been to hell and back together. From bibliographic queries to A Child’s Christmas in Wales, she’s been there for me when I needed her most. I learned this trade at my father’s knee, tagging along to lectures, conferences, and research trips.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ultranationalism: a Proposal for a Quiet Withdrawal
    I developed an early suspicion of any form of nationalism courtesy of a geography teacher and an imaginary cricket game. As the only student of Chinese origin in a high school in Bangalore, I was asked by my teacher in a benign voice who I would support if India and China played a match. Aside from the ridiculousness of the question 01/05 (China does not even play cricket), the dubious intent behind it was rather clear, even to a teenager. Still, I dutifully replied, “Sir, I will support India,” for which I received a gratified smile and a pat on the head. I was offended less by the crude attempt by someone in power to force a kid to prove his patriotism, than by the outright silliness of the game. If all it took to Lawrence Liang establish the euphoric security of nationalism was that simple answer, I figured there must be something drastically wrong with the question. I Ultranationalism: was left, however, with an uneasy feeling (one that has persisted through the years), not A Proposal for a because I had given a false answer but because I had been forced to answer a false question. The Quiet answer made pragmatic sense in a schoolboy way (you don’t want to piss off someone who is going to be marking your papers), and I hadn’t Withdrawal read King Lear yet to know that the only appropriate response to the question should have been silence. If Cordelia refuses to participate in Lear’s competition of affective intimacy, it is not just the truth, but also the distasteful aesthetics of her sister’s excessive declarations of love, that motivates her withdrawal into silence.
    [Show full text]
  • Zvara 1 Umrao Singh Sher-‐Gil Majithia Amrita Sher-‐Gil in Her
    Zvara 1 Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia Amrita Sher-Gil In Her Studio In Shimla, 1937 1937 Vintage Print Collection of Vivan and Navina Sundaram New Delhi, India Zvara 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I’d like to thank my incredible co-advisors, Dr. Mary Sheriff and Dr. Pika Ghosh, for providing guidance, encouragement, reassurance, and inspiration throughout this entire process. Dr. Sheriff, you are among the best professors and mentors I have ever had the pleasure of working with. It is extremely rare to find a professor who is truly devoted to the academic development of their students; you are one of the few, and I could not be more grateful. Dr. Ghosh, you have also had an enormous impact on this project by continually pushing me to ask questions, consider different perspectives, and utilize new approaches to my writing. I would also like to thank Dr. Glaire Anderson for agreeing to serve on my committee. As the first professor who encouraged me to pursue an Honors Thesis, you provided me with the initial confidence and conviction to develop a project and see it through until the very end. I would like to thank my supportive family for their participation in this process as well. To my brilliant parents, who inspire me every day to continue to grow as a student and academic: I hope you read this and it makes you proud. To my sisters, who have always been the greatest role models I could imagine: thank you for providing comforting support and comic relief whenever I needed it.
    [Show full text]
  • Gandhi Sites in Durban Paul Tichmann 8 9 Gandhi Sites in Durban Gandhi Sites in Durban
    local history museums gandhi sites in durban paul tichmann 8 9 gandhi sites in durban gandhi sites in durban introduction gandhi sites in durban The young London-trained barrister, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 1. Dada Abdullah and Company set sail for Durban from Bombay on 19 April 1893 and arrived in (427 Dr Pixley kaSeme Street) Durban on Tuesday 23 May 1893. Gandhi spent some twenty years in South Africa, returning to India in 1914. The period he spent in South Africa has often been described as his political and spiritual Sheth Abdul Karim Adam Jhaveri, a partner of Dada Abdullah and apprenticeship. Indeed, it was within the context of South Africa’s Co., a firm in Porbandar, wrote to Gandhi’s brother, informing him political and social milieu that Gandhi developed his philosophy and that a branch of the firm in South Africa was involved in a court practice of Satyagraha. Between 1893 and 1903 Gandhi spent periods case with a claim for 40 000 pounds. He suggested that Gandhi of time staying and working in Durban. Even after he had moved to be sent there to assist in the case. Gandhi’s brother introduced the Transvaal, he kept contact with friends in Durban and with the him to Sheth Abdul Karim Jhaveri, who assured him that the job Indian community of the City in general. He also often returned to would not be a difficult one, that he would not be required for spend time at Phoenix Settlement, the communitarian settlement he more than a year and that the company would pay “a first class established in Inanda, just outside Durban.
    [Show full text]
  • Mahatma Gandhi
    CHAPTER 1 MAHATMA GANDHI To be Human is to be One with God Mahatma Gandhi: A brief outline The best sources for a detailed life of Mahatma Gandhi are his autobiography and the many collected works that appear under his name. In brief, he was born in India in 1869, was married at the age of 13, and traveled to study law in England at the age of 19. His first trip to South Africa was in 1893 at the request of Indians in that country. While at Pietermaritzburg he was ejected from the train for sitting in a compartment reserved for whites. He sided with the British during the Boer War (although his sympathies lay with the Boers). During the Zulu War he formed the Ambulance Corps to help wounded soldiers, but also to show his loyalty to the British Empire. After the Zulu War, Gandhi took a vow of celibacy, and began using nonviolence as way for attaining rights for Indians in South Africa. It was after the Zulu War that he began articulating the goal of life as attaining moksha, or oneness with God. It was also in South Africa that the word Satyagraha was coined. After 21 years in South Africa, Gandhi left for India and worked for the independence of India from Britain. He was assassinated in 1948. Needless to say, this paragraph gives a brief timeline of Gandhi. Again, The Autobiography and Collected Works (which appear in the text as CWMG for Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi) offer detailed information on the Mahatma. The depiction of Gandhi’s philosophy and understanding of human nature in this chapter differs from most works on Gandhi by deliberately focusing on the influence of non-western cultures and his rejection and critique of capitalism Most Gandhian scholars present him as a person desperately trying to assimilate into the dominant capitalist culture, or mute his criticisms of capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • 03 Periphery Viewing World.Pdf
    ΠΕΡΙΟΔΙΚΟ ΠΑΡΟΥΣΙΑ Σειρά αυτοτελών δημοσιευμάτων αριθμ. 60 Parousia Publications in English Studies 60 © 2004, Christina Dokou, Efterpi Mitsi, Bessie Mitsikopoulou The Periphery Viewing the World Parousia no. 60 Faculty of English Studies School of Philosophy The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Panepistimioupoli Zografou, 157 84, Athens, GREECE. 1. Linguistics 2. Literature 3. Cultural Studies 4. Media Studies. 5. Cultural Politics ISBN 960-8424-23-2 ΠΑΡΟΥΣΙΑ ISSN 1105-0454 Παραρτήματα ISSN 1109-9143 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in anyform or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the editors. Cover design by Seta Zakian ([email protected]). THE PERIPHERY VIEWING THE WORLD Selected Papers from the Fourth International Conference of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English Edited by Christina Dokou Efterpi Mitsi Bessie Mitsikopoulou Parousia Publications 60 Athens 2004 Table of Contents OPENING ADDRESS OF THE CHAIR OF THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH STUDIES Sophia Marmaridou………………………………………………………...…i AN INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….iii I. T(A)INTED VISIONS Viewing from the Periphery: Richard Rorty and the Politics of Viewing Ann R. Cacoullos…………………………………………………………..…1 Proximity and Involvement in Television: On the September 11th Live Footage Lilie Chouliaraki………………………………………………………….…15 II. CONSTRUCTING PLACES AND IDENTITIES Globalization and Its Apparatuses: Reducing the World to a Globe Assimina Karavanta………………………………………………………....35
    [Show full text]
  • 25 Handbook of Bibliography on Diaspora and Transnationalism.Pdf
    BIBLIOGRAPH Y A Hand-book on Diaspora and Transnationalism FIRST EDITION April 2013 Compiled By Monika Bisht Rakesh Ranjan Sadananda Sahoo Draft Copy for Reader’s Comments Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism www.grfdt.org Bibleography Preface Large scale international mobility of the people since colonial times has been one of the most important historical phenomenon in the human history. This has impacted upon the social, cultural, political and economic landscape of the entire globe. Though academic interest goes back little early, the phenomenon got the world wide attention as late as 1990s. We have witnessed more proactive engagement of various organizations at national and international level such as UN bodies. There was also growing research interest in the areas. Large number of institutions got engaged in research on diaspora-international migration-refugee-transnationalism. Wide range of research and publications in these areas gave a new thrust to the entire issue and hence advancing further research. The recent emphasis on diaspora’s development role further accentuated the attention of policy makers towards diaspora. The most underemphasized perhaps, the role of diaspora and transnational actors in the overall development process through capacity building, resource mobilization, knowledge sharing etc. are growing areas of development debate in national as well as international forums. There have been policy initiatives at both national and international level to engage diaspora more meaningfully since last one decade. There is a need for more wholistic understanding of the enrite phenomena to facilitate researchers and stakeholders engaged in the various issues related to diaspora and transnationalism. Similarly, we find the areas such as social, political and cultural vis a vis diaspora also attracting more interest in recent times as forces of globalization intensified in multi direction.
    [Show full text]
  • BORN out of SORROW Essays on Pietermaritzburg and the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands Under Apartheid, 1948−1994 Volume One Compiled An
    BORN OUT OF SORROW Essays on Pietermaritzburg and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands under Apartheid, 1948−1994 Volume One Compiled and edited by Christopher Merrett Occasional Publications of the Natal Society Foundation PIETERMARITZBURG 2021 Born out of Sorrow: Essays on Pietermaritzburg and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands under Apartheid, 1948–1994. Volume One © Christopher Merrett Published in 2021 in Pietermaritzburg by the Trustees of the Natal Society Foundation under its imprint ‘Occasional Publications of the Natal Society Foundation’. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without reference to the publishers, the Trustees of the Natal Society Foundation, Pietermaritzburg. Natal Society Foundation website: http://www.natalia.org.za/ ISBN 978-0-6398040-1-9 Proofreader: Catherine Munro Cartographer: Marise Bauer Indexer: Christopher Merrett Design and layout: Jo Marwick Body text: Times New Roman 11pt Front and footnotes: Times New Roman 9pt Front cover: M Design Printed by CPW Printers, Pietermaritzburg CONTENTS List of illustrations List of maps and figures Abbreviations Preface Part One Chapter 1 From segregation to apartheid: Pietermaritzburg’s urban geography from 1948 1 Chapter 2 A small civil war: political conflict in the Pietermaritzburg region in the 1980s and early 1990s 39 Chapter 3 Emergency of the State: detention without trial in Pietermaritzburg and the Natal Midlands, 1986–1990 77 Chapter 4 Struggle in the workplace: trade unions and liberation in Pietermaritzburg and the Natal Midlands: part one From the 1890s to the 1980s 113 Chapter 5 Struggle in the workplace: trade unions and liberation in Pietermaritzburg and the Natal Midlands: part two Sarmcol and beyond 147 Chapter 6 Theatre of repression: political trials in Pietermaritzburg in the 1970s and 1980s 177 Part Two Chapter 7 Inkosi Mhlabunzima Joseph Maphumulo by Jill E.
    [Show full text]
  • Gandhi's View on Judaism and Zionism in Light of an Interreligious
    religions Article Gandhi’s View on Judaism and Zionism in Light of an Interreligious Theology Ephraim Meir 1,2 1 Department of Jewish Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel; [email protected] 2 Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa Abstract: This article describes Gandhi’s view on Judaism and Zionism and places it in the framework of an interreligious theology. In such a theology, the notion of “trans-difference” appreciates the differences between cultures and religions with the aim of building bridges between them. It is argued that Gandhi’s understanding of Judaism was limited, mainly because he looked at Judaism through Christian lenses. He reduced Judaism to a religion without considering its peoplehood dimension. This reduction, together with his political endeavors in favor of the Hindu–Muslim unity and with his advice of satyagraha to the Jews in the 1930s determined his view on Zionism. Notwithstanding Gandhi’s problematic views on Judaism and Zionism, his satyagraha opens a wide-open window to possibilities and challenges in the Near East. In the spirit of an interreligious theology, bridges are built between Gandhi’s satyagraha and Jewish transformational dialogical thinking. Keywords: Gandhi; interreligious theology; Judaism; Zionism; satyagraha satyagraha This article situates Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s in the perspective of a Jewish dialogical philosophy and theology. I focus upon the question to what extent Citation: Meir, Ephraim. 2021. Gandhi’s religious outlook and satyagraha, initiated during his period in South Africa, con- Gandhi’s View on Judaism and tribute to intercultural and interreligious understanding and communication.
    [Show full text]
  • KADAMB DEPARTMENT of STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM COURSES SPECIAL INDIA COURSES Three Weeks and Ten Weeks Courses for Foreign Students A
    KADAMB DEPARTMENT OF STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM Gujarat University has become the growth engine of education in Gujarat. Today deprtment of Study Abroad Program caters to more than 120 countries and 400 students from USA, UK, Belgium, Spain, Japan, Yemeforeign n, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Egypt. The Ministries and Embassies of different countries as well as ICCR, Ed. CIL. (MHRD Sponsored agency to sponsor foreign and NRI/ PIO students), IIAS, USEIF have been sponsoring their incumbents to study at Gujarat University. A number of self financing foreign students have also chosen Gujarat University to advance their educational skills. COURSES SPECIAL INDIA COURSES Three Weeks and Ten Weeks Courses for Foreign Students and NRIs ● Studies in Gandhian Philosophy ● Studies in Tribal Culture of Gujarat ● Indian Languages ● Indian Poetics ● Yoga and Meditation ● Indian Rural Management Skills ● Classical and Folk Dances of India ● Indian folk music ● Indian Mythology ● Indian films ● Art of Rangoli ● Indian Cuisine ● Indian Literature ● Religions of India ● Traditions and Home stay in Indian background Courses in Foreign Languages With the increased demand of foreign languages across the globe, the university does not want to be left behind hence there are Certificate and Diploma courses for languages like ● French ● German● Spanish ● Russian● Japanese ● Persian● Arabic ● Chinese M.Phil : Indian Diaspora and Migration Studies Ph. D. : Indian Diaspora and Migration Studies Integrated Ph. D. : Indian Diaspora and Migration Studies MoUs with
    [Show full text]
  • Reconsidering Solidarity with Leela Gandhi and Judith Butler
    Europe’s Crisis: Reconsidering Solidarity with Leela Gandhi and Judith Butler Giovanna Covi for William V. Spanos, who has shown the way The idea called Europe is important. It deserves loving and nourishing care to grow well and to return its promise. It is a visionary idea shared by winners and losers of World War II, by survivors of the Nazi-Fascist regimes and the Shoah, by large and small countries. It is still little more than just an idea: so far, it has only yielded the suspension of inner wars among the states that became members of the European Union. It is only a germ. Yet, its achievement is outstanding: in the face of the incessant proliferation of wars around the globe, it has secured lasting peace to an increasing number of nations since the 1950s. The idea called Europe is also vague. It has pursued its aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbours mainly through economic ties, as the Treaty of Maastricht’s failure to promote shared policies underscores. For over half a century, its common policies have been manifestly insufficient and inadequate. It is indeed still only a germ. And its limitations are tremendous: in the face of the rising threats to its own idea of peaceful cohabitation, of the internal rise of violent and hateful forces of sovereignty, of policies of domination, discrimination and exclusion, it is incapable of keeping Europe’s own promise. Such limitations are tangible in the debate about Grexit and the decision regarding Brexit, as well as in the political turn towards totalitarianisms in multiple states.
    [Show full text]
  • The Futility of Violence I. Gandhi's Critique of Violence for Gandhi, Political
    CHAPTER ONE The Futility of Violence I. Gandhi’s Critique of Violence For Gandhi, political life was, in a profound and fundamental sense, closely bound to the problem of violence. At the same time, his understanding and critique of violence was multiform and layered; violence’s sources and consequences were at once ontological, moral and ethical, as well as distinctly political. Gandhi held a metaphysical account of the world – one broadly drawn from Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist philosophy – that accepted himsa or violence to be an ever-present and unavoidable fact of human existence. The world, he noted, was “bound in a chain of destruction;” the basic mechanisms for the reproduction of biological and social life necessarily involved continuous injury to living matter. But modern civilization – its economic and political institutions as well as the habits it promoted and legitimated – posed the problem of violence in new and insistent terms. Gandhi famously declared the modern state to represent “violence in a concentrated and organized form;” it was a “soulless machine” that – like industrial capitalism – was premised upon and generated coercive forms of centralization and hierarchy.1 These institutions enforced obedience through the threat of violence, they forced people to labor unequally, they oriented desires towards competitive material pursuits. In his view, civilization was rendering persons increasingly weak, passive, and servile; in impinging upon moral personality, modern life degraded and deformed it. This was the structural violence of modernity, a violence that threatened bodily integrity but also human dignity, individuality, and autonomy. In this respect, Gandhi’s deepest ethical objection to violence was closely tied to a worldview that took violence to inhere in modern modes of politics and modern ways of living.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Satyagraha in South Africa1
    1. SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA1 FOREWORD Shri Valji Desai’s translation has been revised by me, and I can assure the reader that the spirit of the original in Gujarati has been very faithfuly kept by the translator. The original chapters were all written by me from memory. They were written partly in the Yeravda jail and partly outside after my premature release. As the translator knew of this fact, he made a diligent study of the file of Indian Opinion and wherever he discovered slips of memory, he has not hesitated to make the necessary corrections. The reader will share my pleasure that in no relevant or material paricular has there been any slip. I need hardly mention that those who are following the weekly chapters of My Experiments with Truth cannot afford to miss these chapters on satyagraha, if they would follow in all its detail the working out of the search after Truth. M. K. GANDHI SABARMATI 26th April, 19282 1 Gandhiji started writing in Gujarati the historty of Satyagraha in South Africa on November 26, 1923, when he was in the Yeravda Central Jail; vide “Jail Diary, 1923.” By the time he was released, on February 5, 1924, he had completed 30 chapters. The chapters of Dakshina Africana Satyagrahano Itihas, as it was entitled, appeared serially in the issues of the Navajivan, beginning on April 13, 1924, and ending on November 22, 1925. The preface to the first part was written at Juhu, Bombay, on April 2, 1924; that to the second appeared in Navajivan, 5-7-1925.
    [Show full text]