The current ed. of EPW (Economc and Political Weekly) has published three responses to the article by Ramachandra Guha on Contemporary History
Ramachandra Guha, The Challenge of Contemporary History
Description:
"This essay explores and deplores a paradox – namely, that while India is the most interesting country in the world, we know so little about its history as an independent nation. The essay identifies the obstacles to the writing of contemporary history, and also outlines how they might be overcome. It suggests some important themes for research – among them, the histories of states, the histories of institutions, and the biographies of writers and activists. Finally, it suggests that since the study of colonialism is meeting with diminishing returns, contemporary history might and perhaps should become a “growth area” for the future." on 28-06-2008 in VOL 43 No. 26 and 27 June 28 - July 11, 2008]
Responses:
Nonica Datta, A 'Samvad' with Ramachandra Guha
Description:
"This comment on Ramachandra Guha’s essay (June 28, 2008) explores the significance of
oral narratives in modern Indian history and argues that in more than one way orally transmitted testimonies tend to resist historical eventuality, the one based on time-bound bloated facts and events. They may work across time, offering us a perspective of multiple possibilities."
Shajeej Hegde, The Demands of Contemporary History: A Comment
Description:
"If the problem at issue is the way in which Indian history is currently conceived and practised, then where does the historical basis for that conception come from, if not from the serious distortions introduced by the vacillations of historians themselves?"
Ramachandra Guha, The Challenge of Contemporary History
Description:
"This essay explores and deplores a paradox – namely, that while India is the most interesting country in the world, we know so little about its history as an independent nation. The essay identifies the obstacles to the writing of contemporary history, and also outlines how they might be overcome. It suggests some important themes for research – among them, the histories of states, the histories of institutions, and the biographies of writers and activists. Finally, it suggests that since the study of colonialism is meeting with diminishing returns, contemporary history might and perhaps should become a “growth area” for the future." on 28-06-2008 in VOL 43 No. 26 and 27 June 28 - July 11, 2008]
Responses:
Nonica Datta, A 'Samvad' with Ramachandra Guha
Description:
"This comment on Ramachandra Guha’s essay (June 28, 2008) explores the significance of
oral narratives in modern Indian history and argues that in more than one way orally transmitted testimonies tend to resist historical eventuality, the one based on time-bound bloated facts and events. They may work across time, offering us a perspective of multiple possibilities."
Shajeej Hegde, The Demands of Contemporary History: A Comment
Description:
"If the problem at issue is the way in which Indian history is currently conceived and practised, then where does the historical basis for that conception come from, if not from the serious distortions introduced by the vacillations of historians themselves?"
Nivedita Menon, The Historian and ‘His’ Others: A Response to Ramachandra Guha
Description:
"Ramachandra Guha’s positive reading of the mid-1950s legislation that made up the Hindu Code is a simple, feel-good, nationalist telling that is trite, conventional and utterly misleading. A significant body of research has argued that the “reformed” Hindu Code was not only very far from offering equal rights to women, it in fact took away many existing, more liberal customary provisions available to women of different communities and castes. Guha also offers a stereotypical division of the social sciences into History, Sociology, Political Science, etc. A number of scholars – the feminists being the first – have breached the disciplinary boundaries in the social sciences that were established in the 19th century."
The articles can be viewed at http://www.epw.org.in/
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