The Truth About Us: Information and Society from Manu to Modi
CASI Seminar
Sanjoy Chakravorty
Professor of Geography, Urban Studies, and Global Studies, Temple University
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science & Economics
133 South 36th Street, Suite 230
Philadelphia PA 19104-6215
Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science & Economics
133 South 36th Street, Suite 230
Philadelphia PA 19104-6215
About the Speaker:
Sanjoy Chakravorty is Professor of Geography, Urban Studies, and Global Studies at Temple University. He has authored several acclaimed books. The most recent of these are The Other One Percent, The Price of Land, Fragments of Inequality, and Made in India. He also writes fiction.
About the Lecture:
This lecture summarizes the work in a new book, arguing that the political manipulation of information has created what are taken to be the “truths” of India. It shows how religion and caste identities like Hindu, Dalit, and Tribal were invented by the British and how they are being repackaged in the information age through the existential debate between Hindutva and pluralism.
The Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Lecture Series is an endowed public program of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). Launched in the 2007-08 academic year, and made possible through the generous support of the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, the series brings renowned India specialists to the Penn community and serves as a critical forum for analyzing and understanding the complex economic, political, social, and cultural changes that the world’s largest democracy is experiencing, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.
The Saluja Global Fellows Program has been made possible by the generous gift from Vishal Saluja ENG’89 W’89. CASI was excited to launch the program during the 2022–23 academic year, coinciding with the Center’s 30th Anniversary. This new program enables CASI to invite eminent leaders and rising experts on contemporary India preferably from the fields of media, culture, law, and contemporary history to be in residence for one to two weeks at CASI.