The College of Wooster
Lee A. McBride III

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Ambedkar’s criticism of Gandhi is quite compelling.
Ambedkar was influenced by John
Dewey at Columbia.
Meera Nanda, “A Dalit Defense of the Deweyan-Buddhist View of
Science”

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He seems to take his opposition to industrialization to an extreme.
He supports a form of caste.
He says wacky things.

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"Taking food is as dirty an act as answering the call of nature. The only difference is that after answering [the] call of nature we get peace while after eating food we get discomfort. Just as we perform the act of answering the call of nature in seclusion so also the act of taking food must be done in seclusion" (Mahatma Gandhi).

The College of Wooster
Lee A. McBride III

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This is a course in political philosophy, which focuses on themes in contemporary India. We will critically engage: (i) the psychological and material effects of British colonial subjugation, (ii) notions of modern industrialization and democratic egalitarianism, (iii) development and the politics of ecology, and (iv) feminism and pro-women politics.

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We will become acquainted with the works of several challenging and provocative philosophers and social activists, such as: Mohandas Gandhi,
B.R. Ambedkar, Vandana Shiva, Meera
Nanda, Madhu Kishwar, Chandra
Mohanty, and Amartya Sen. This will entail the careful reading, interpretation, and discussion of difficult texts as well as the exposition, critique, and construction of arguments.

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Gandhi, Mohandas, Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other
Writings. London: Cambridge University Press,
2009.
Gandhi, Mohandas, [on caste and trusteeship], The
Penguin Gandhi Reader, ed. Rudrangshu Mukherjee.
Ambedkar, Bhimrao Ramji, “Annihilation of Caste,”
The Essential Readings Writings of B.R. Ambedkar, ed. Valerian Rodrigues. Delhi: Oxford India
Paperbacks, 2004, pp. 263-305.
Ambedkar, Bhimrao Ramji, “Gandhism,” The
Essential Readings Writings of B.R. Ambedkar, pp.
149-172.

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Guha, Ramachandra, “The Environmentalism of the Poor,”
Between Resistance and Revolution, eds. Richard Fox and
Orin Starn. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press,
1997, pp. 17-39.
Kishwar, Madhu, “Cutting our Own Lifeline: A Review of
India’s Farm Policy,” Deepening Democracy. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 84-112.
Sen, Amartya, “Development: What Way Now?” The
Economic Journal, Vol. 93, No. 372. (Dec., 1983), pp.
745-762.
Curtin, Deane, “Gandhi’s Vision of Community
Development,” Environmental Ethics for a Postcolonial
World. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2005, pp. 98-130.

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Shiva, Vandana, “Development, Ecology, and Women,”
Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development.
London: Zed Books, 1989, pp. 1-13.
Shiva, Vandana, “Science, Nature and Gender,”
Staying Alive, pp. 14-37.
Shiva, Vandana, “Women in Nature,” Staying Alive, pp.
38-??.
Nanda, Meera, “A Dalit Defense of the Deweyan-
Buddhist View of Science,” Prophets Facing Backward.
Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003, pp.
181-??.
Nanda, Meera, “The Ecofeminist Critique of the Green
Revolution,” Prophets Facing Backward, pp. 225-??.

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Mohanty, Chandra, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist
Scholarship and Colonial Discourses,” Feminism Without
Borders. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003, pp.
17-42.
Chitnis, Suma, “Feminism: Indian Ethos and Indian
Convictions,” Feminism in India, ed. Maitrayee Chaudhuri.
New York: Zed Books Ltd., 2005, pp. 8-25.
Kishwar, Madhu, “A Horror of ‘Isms’: Why I Do Not Call
Myself a Feminist,” Off the Beaten Path. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999.
Mohanty, Chandra, “Cartographies of Struggle: Third
World Women and the Politics of Feminism,” Feminism
Without Borders. Durham, NC: Duke University Press,
2003, pp. 43-84.

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Kishwar, Madhu, “Women's Marginal Role in Politics,” Off
the Beaten Path. New York: Oxford University Press,
1999.
Mohanty, Chandra, “Women Workers and the Politics of
Solidarity,” Feminism Without Borders. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press, 2003, pp. 139-168.
Mohanty, Chandra, ““Under Western Eyes” Revisited:
Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles,”
Feminism Without Borders. Durham, NC: Duke University
Press, 2003, pp. 221-251.
Sen, Amartya, “Democracy as Public Reason,” The Idea of
Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009, pp. 321-???.

Lee A. McBride III
The College of Wooster
Lmcbride@wooster.edu