How did Gandhi define modernity, reject it, or embody it? This course discusses Gandhi's modernity as a two-sided paradox—passionate critic of civilizational modernity while also radically modern. Through discourses of development, secularism, and capitalism that underlie notions of modernity, study how Gandhian praxis reformulates the modern through self-transformation and a program for collective good. Do traditional concepts of the ashram, the ascetic, and homespun fabric express Gandhi's vision of a modern utopia, or an actualizable political future? What ironies surface as Gandhi navigates the terrain of the modern? What challenges? What insights? Mandatory, time-sensitive training and approval process—see synopsis.
Religious Studies