Product Details :

• Hardcover: 213 pages
• Publisher: Bibliophile South Asia; 2nd edition edition (2 February 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10:9380188137
• ISBN-13: 978-9380188133
• Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.2 x 2.3 cm
• About the Author :

• Product Review :

This highly original work brilliantly illuminates forgotten facets of Gandhi's struggles in South Africa-its representations in poetry written by various hands and in different languages. In the sensitive and skillful hands of Bhana and Shuila-Bhatt, these poems come alive. They deal with themes such as religious pluralism and social discrimination that remain relevant a hundred years later. A superb work of literary and social history, this book is necessary reading for those interested in Gandhi, India, South Africa, diasporic communities, or the prehistory of globalization. It will occupy a privliged position on my own bookshelf. --Ramachandra Guha-Noted Writer and Commentator

This partnership between the two authors represents the culmination of research through the much neglected Gujarati columns of Indian Opinion to bring poetry significant to the satyagraha campaign in South Africa to the fore. These cultural productions of the early twentieth century are made available for the first time to an English readership. Through the poetry we see how satyagraha stimulated cultural works and how satyagraha itself was solidified by cultural performances. This important new work not only adds a crucial new dimension to understanding satyagraha but brings to light the hidden productions of the poets of the era, one of whom is the elusive Sheik Mehtab. --Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Professor of History University of Western Cape, South Africa, and authr of Gandi's prisoner (2004) on Manilal Gandhi, her grandfather.

This is an historic testimonial to the hopes for social justice and racial equality that fired a generation of Indians transplanted to South Africa during the high noon of British imperialism. Expressed in poems and shaped by Gandhi's concept of satyagraha, this collection reveals the centrality of political interventions in the arena of culture as much as the actual painstaking mobilization of people against the concrete injustices. It raises many important questions about the role of poetry (and more generally art) in the imagining of an alternative to the present age of the sound byte. Indispensable for students of the Indian diaspora, South African history and more generally the politics of race and class. --Professor Vasant Kaiwar, Duke University. Founder Editor, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

This partnership between the two authors represents the culmination of research through the much neglected Gujarati columns of Indian Opinion to bring poetry significant to the satyagraha campaign in South Africa to the fore. These cultural productions of the early twentieth century are made available for the first time to an English readership. Through the poetry we see how satyagraha stimulated cultural works and how satyagraha itself was solidified by cultural performances. This important new work not only adds a crucial new dimension to understanding satyagraha but brings to light the hidden productions of the poets of the era, one of whom is the elusive Sheik Mehtab. --Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Professor of History University of Western Cape, South Africa, and authr of Gandi's prisoner (2004) on Manilal Gandhi, her grandfather.

This is an historic testimonial to the hopes for social justice and racial equality that fired a generation of Indians transplanted to South Africa during the high noon of British imperialism. Expressed in poems and shaped by Gandhi's concept of satyagraha, this collection reveals the centrality of political interventions in the arena of culture as much as the actual painstaking mobilization of people against the concrete injustices. --Professor Vasant Kaiwar, Duke University. Founder Editor, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East This partnership between the two authors represents the culmination of research through the much neglected Gujarati columns of Indian Opinion to bring poetry significant to the satyagraha campaign in South Africa to the fore. These cultural productions of the early twentieth century are made available for the first time to an English readership. Through the poetry we see how satyagraha stimulated cultural works and how satyagraha itself was solidified by cultural performances. This important new work not only adds a crucial new dimension to understanding satyagraha but brings to light the hidden productions of the poets of the era, one of whom is the elusive Sheik Mehtab. --Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Professor of History University of Western Cape, South Africa, and authr of Gandi's prisoner (2004) on Manilal Gandhi, her grandfather. This is an historic testimonial to the hopes for social justice and racial equality that fired a generation of Indians transplanted to South Africa during the high noon of British imperialism. Expressed in poems and shaped by Gandhi's concept of satyagraha, this collection reveals the centrality of political interventions in the arena of culture as much as the actual painstaking mobilization of people against the concrete injustices. It raises many important questions about the role of poetry (and more generally art) in the imagining of an alternative to the present age of the sound byte. Indispensable for students of the Indian diaspora, South African history and more generally the politics of race and class. --Professor Vasant Kaiwar, Duke University. Founder Editor, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East