The Present as History: Critical Perspectives on Global Power

Nermeen Shaikh

Published by Columbia University Press 2007

The Present as History

Critical Perspectives on Global Power

Nermeen Shaikh

https://doi.org/10.7312/shai14298

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Present as History is a rare opportunity to hear world-renowned scholars speak on the new imperialism, feminism and human rights, secularism and Islam, post-colonialism, and the global economy. They treat the United States as an object to be historically and politically interrogated rather than as the norm from which all else is to be evaluated and assess the Third World through its history of colonialism and neocolonialism rather than focusing on issues of culture and morality.

Amartya Sen discusses the shortcomings of the development agenda as it was conceived at the close of the Second World War, while Joseph Stiglitz explains economic globalization and the power of the International Monetary Fund in guiding its trajectory. Sanjay Reddy argues that global poverty estimates are flawed, and Helena Norberg-Hodge uses her experience in Tibet to lay bare the problems with development practice.

Political scientists Partha Chatterjee, Mahmood Mamdani, and Anatol Lieven chart the growth of hegemonic power from the colonial to the postcolonial period. Chatterjee examines the enduring effects of colonial administrative and governing practices, while Mamdani, focusing on the present global dispensation, explains the growth of terrorist movements around the world in the context of the Cold War. Lieven looks at the different strains of American nationalism and the continuities and ruptures between nineteenth-century empires and the present one. Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi elaborates the relationship between Islam, democracy, and human rights while anthropologists Lila Abu-Lughod and Saba Mahmood respectively trace the historical use of women as an excuse for imperial intervention and discuss the relationship between liberalism, Islam, and secularism. Literary theorist and cultural critic Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak looks at the legacy of colonialism in the domain of language and education, and isolates the problems associated with human rights discourse and practice.

In conclusion, Talal Asad traces the genealogy of the term secularism, the special place of Islam within it, and its relationship to modernity. Gil Anidjar considers the distinction between religion and politics and elaborates the historical links between secularism and Christianity. Taken together, these interviews offer a valuable understanding of world history and a corrective to predominant conventional discourses on global power and justice.

Author / Editor information

Nermeen Shaikh has worked at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad and the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. She works at the Asia Society in New York City.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Part One. The Global economy
1. Amartya Sen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Helena Norberg-Hodge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
3. Sanjay Reddy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
4. Joseph Stiglitz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
Part Two. Postcolonialism and the New Imperialism
5. Partha Chatterjee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
6. Mahmood Mamdani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
7. Anatol Lieven Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Part Three. Feminism and Human Rights
8. Shirin Ebadi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
9. Lila Abu-Lughod Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
10. Saba Mahmood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
11. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Part Four. Secularism and Islam
12. Talal Asad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
13. Gil Anidjar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Notes on Interviewees Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 296

eBook

Published: December 6, 2007
ISBN: 9780231512411