India's Revolutionary Inheritance

Politics and the Promise of Bhagat Singh

India's Revolutionary Inheritance
Chris Moffat
RRP:
NZ$ 57.95
Our Price:
NZ$ 52.15
Paperback
Not defined - 294pg
9 Jul 2020 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781108739016
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
What do anti-colonial histories mean for politics in contemporary India? How can we understand a political terrain that appears crowded with the dead, heroic figures from past struggles who call the living to account and demand action? What role do these 'afterlives' play in the inauguration of new politics and the fashioning of possible futures? In this engaging and innovative analysis of anti-colonial afterlives in modern South Asia, Chris Moffat crafts a framework that takes the dead seriously - not as passive entities, ceremonially invoked, but as active interlocutors and instigators in the present. Focusing on the iconic revolutionary martyr Bhagat Singh (1907-1931), Moffat establishes the problem of inheritance as central to the forms and futures of democracy in this postcolonial polity. Tracing Bhagat Singh's revenant presence in India today, he demonstrates how living communities are animated by a sense of obligation, duty or debt to the dead.
'In this tightly argued investigation of the figure of the revolutionary nationalist Bhagat Singh, Moffat explores the relationship between history as documentary facts, and history as political mythology. A timely intervention at a juncture where Indian history is more contested than ever before.' Thomas Blom Hansen, Stanford University, California
'A highly original study of India's revolutionary history, Chris Moffat's book is unique in exploring the surprising afterlife of this past. More than nostalgia for a losing argument in Indian politics, Moffat argues that the revolutionary past has come to possess a spectral agency. This is a nuanced and sophisticated study of historical consciousness in modern India.' Faisal Devji, University of Oxford
'In this imaginative reckoning with the spectacular and spectral afterlives of Bhagat Singh, Chris Moffat offers a brilliant account of history as hauntology. Based on sustained archival research and wide-ranging field work, India's Revolutionary Inheritance compels us to understand why and how some dead continue to have such a purchase in the world of the living. A historical and conceptual tour de force.' Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke University, North Carolina
'This impressive book offers not only a deeply insightful account of Bhagat Singh's afterlives, but also a very timely and critical reflection on disciplinary history's rigid boundaries between past and present. Moffat makes an exceptionally important argument about how politics is often more about gesture and action than doctrine and belief.' Ajay Skaria, University of Minnesota
'Chris Moffat's Book India's Revolutionary Inheritance is a welcome addition to the list of works that seek to overcome the tropes of failure and defeat ... Moffat's book is then not only a challenge to intellectual orthodoxiesn in History, but is also a political intervention in our possible futures.' Ammar Ali Jan, Radical Philosophy
'Moffat's work ... with its blend of field and archive, provides an excellent example for how scholars might go about studying the tangled temporal orders of contemporary South Asian politics, one in which the divine, the dead and the living all play a part.' Rahul Rose, South Asia@LSE
'In this tightly argued investigation of the figure of the revolutionary nationalist Bhagat Singh, Moffat explores the relationship between history as documentary facts, and history as political mythology. A timely intervention at a juncture where Indian history is more contested than ever before.' Thomas Blom Hansen, Stanford University, California
'A highly original study of India's revolutionary history, Chris Moffat's book is unique in exploring the surprising afterlife of this past. More than nostalgia for a losing argument in Indian politics, Moffat argues that the revolutionary past has come to possess a spectral agency. This is a nuanced and sophisticated study of historical consciousness in modern India.' Faisal Devji, University of Oxford
'In this imaginative reckoning with the spectacular and spectral afterlives of Bhagat Singh, Chris Moffat offers a brilliant account of history as hauntology. Based on sustained archival research and wide-ranging field work, India's Revolutionary Inheritance compels us to understand why and how some dead continue to have such a purchase in the world of the living. A historical and conceptual tour de force.' Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke University, North Carolina
'This impressive book offers not only a deeply insightful account of Bhagat Singh's afterlives, but also a very timely and critical reflection on disciplinary history's rigid boundaries between past and present. Moffat makes an exceptionally important argument about how politics is often more about gesture and action than doctrine and belief.' Ajay Skaria, University of Minnesota
'Chris Moffat's Book India's Revolutionary Inheritance is a welcome addition to the list of works that seek to overcome the tropes of failure and defeat ... Moffat's book is then not only a challenge to intellectual orthodoxiesn in History, but is also a political intervention in our possible futures.' Ammar Ali Jan, Radical Philosophy
'Moffat's work ... with its blend of field and archive, provides an excellent example for how scholars might go about studying the tangled temporal orders of contemporary South Asian politics, one in which the divine, the dead and the living all play a part.' Rahul Rose, South Asia@LSE
Chris Moffat is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of History, Queen Mary University of London.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781108739016
Published: 9 Jul 2020
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Format: Paperback
Pages: 294

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information