Rule of the Commoner

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