Secularism as Misdirection: Critical Thought from the Global South

Nivedita Menon's book "Secularism as Misdirection" explores how the discourse of secularism hypervisualizes women and religion while obscuring other related issues. She exposes secularism as a strategy of governance compatible with democracy, authoritarianism, capitalism, and socialism. Menon also examines the interconnectedness of religion, caste, the state, and women and suggests that transformative politics is better imagined by focusing on substantive values such as democracy, social justice, and ecological justice.

Format: Hardback
Length: 496 pages
Publication date: 10 May 2024
Publisher: Duke University Press

Secularism as Misdirection, by Nivedita Menon, delves into the intricate dynamics of secularism, revealing how it perpetuates a narrow focus on women and religion while obscuring other pertinent issues. Through her comprehensive analysis, Menon exposes secularism as a versatile strategy employed by both democratic and authoritarian regimes, as well as by capitalist and socialist systems. Moreover, she argues that secularism undermines the nonindividuated, nonrational self, and delves into this dimension by exploring the trajectory of psychoanalysis in the global South. Menon further examines the interconnectedness of religion, caste, the state, and women, demonstrating how secularism can be manipulated by Hindu supremacist politics in India. By engaging with Latin American decolonial theorists and Asian and African thinkers, Menon explores twenty-first-century global reimaginings of selfhood, constitutionalism, citizenship, and anticapitalist existence. Through a feminist and global lens, Menon advocates for a transformative approach that departs from the confines of secularism and prioritizes substantive values such as democracy, social justice, and ecological justice.

Weight: 794g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478026204