Rule of the Commoner

DMK and Formations of the Political in Tamil Nadu, 1949–1967

Inbunden, Engelska, 2022

Av Rajan Kurai Krishnan, Ravindran Sriramachandran, V. M. S. Subagunarajan, V M S Subagunarajan

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The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has been singular in heralding and establishing a firm regional polity among the Indian states after the Indian Union was inaugurated as a republic. Academic scholarship has often treated the DMK as a Tamil nationalist or ethno-nationalist formation without conceptual clarity or critical insight. Rule of the Commoner demonstrates with persuasive evidence that the DMK appealed to a federalist and not nationalist imagination. The DMK's combining of the non-Brahmin Dravidian identity and allegiance to Tamil language led to a counter hegemonic formation of the plebes and left populism. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau, the book argues that the DMK achieved the construction of a people as Dravidian-Tamil, with Tamil being the empty signifier of the social whole, Brahmin vs. non-Brahmin divide functioning as the internal frontier leading to the formations of the political. It elaborates the conceptual scheme under the three rubrics of Ideation, Imagination and Mobilization.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2022-11-10
Mått160 x 236 x 23 mm
Vikt510 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieMetamorphoses of the Political: Multidisciplinary Approaches
Antal sidor280
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781009197175

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Rajan Kurai Krishnan is Associate Professor at the School of Culture and Creative Expressions, Dr B R Ambedkar University, Delhi. He regularly publishes articles on political theory, philosophy, global affairs, climate change and film theory. Ravindran Sriramachandran is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University. His research interests include semiotics, environment and development, South Asian politics, and film studies. VMS Subagunarajan is an independent researcher in Chennai. He has written extensively on the Dravidian movement, especially on Periyar.

List of Tables; List of Maps; Acknowledgments; Note on Transliteration; Illustrations; Dedication; Introduction: Two Scenes of Departure; Part I. Ideation: 1. Construction of 'Dravidian –Tamil' People; 2. The Uses of Language; 3. Human Immanence; 4. Left Populism; Part II. Imagination: 5. The Play is the Thing; 6. Critical Hermeneutics; 7. Counter Narratives; 8. Power of Fiction; Part III. Mobilization: 9. The Grassroots; 10. The Waves; 11. The Eruption; 12. The Climb; Conclusion: Formations of the Political; Bibliography; Index.

'In this original and important study of a major leader in the Dravidian politics of south India in the middle of the twentieth century, the authors make a vital distinction between the rhetorics of 'people' and 'nation', to show that far from being a mere example of regional chauvinism or separatism, Annadurai's vision was a genuine alternative to the reigning forms of nationalism in Nehru's India.' Arjun Appadurai, author of Banking on Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance