Indian Cultures as Heritage: Contemporary Pasts

Culture is a shared understanding of selected objects and thoughts from the past, often stripped of its historical context, and Romila Thapar's book explores this topic. It will spark productive debate about current shibboleths in India's culture.

Format: Hardback
Length: 268 pages
Publication date: 15 September 2021
Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd

Every society has its cultures: patterns of how people live and express themselves and how they value objects and thoughts. Recently, there has been considerable debate about what constitutes Indian culture and heritage and about how much diversity those categories ought to contain. Romila Thapar begins by explaining how definitions of culture have changed over the past three centuries. She suggests that cultures can be defined as a shared understanding of selected objects and thoughts from the past, but this understanding is often stripped of its historical context. Thapar touches on a few of these illuminating contexts, such as social discrimination, the role of women, and attitudes toward science and knowledge. This thought-provoking book is sure to spark productive debate about some current shibboleths in India's culture.

Every society has its cultures: patterns of how people live and express themselves and how they value objects and thoughts.

Recently, there has been considerable debate about what constitutes Indian culture and heritage and about how much diversity those categories ought to contain.

Romila Thapar begins by explaining how definitions of culture have changed over the past three centuries.

She suggests that cultures can be defined as a shared understanding of selected objects and thoughts from the past, but this understanding is often stripped of its historical context.

Thapar touches on a few of these illuminating contexts, such as social discrimination, the role of women, and attitudes toward science and knowledge.

This thought-provoking book is sure to spark productive debate about some current shibboleths in India's culture.

Weight: 474g
Dimension: 149 x 223 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780857428875