Against the Nation Thinking Like South Asians

Against the Nation is an invitation to explore South Asia as a place and as an idea with a sense of refection and nuance rather than falling prey to the taken for granted and simplistic understanding of South Asia merely in geographic terms. To do so, the authors take the readers across a vast terrain of possibilities that deal with visual culture, music, film, knowledge systems and classrooms, myth and history as well as forms of politics that offer possibilities for understanding South Asia as a collective enterprise that has historical precedents as well as untapped ideological potential for the future. Further, the collection also attempts to look at how the idea of South Asia might be theorised. Though much of their thoughts are based on their own individual research interests, the authors' attempt in this present collection is to take the idea of South Asia as something that should surpass the boundaries of nation states from the limited academic circles in which it circulates at present to literally the `streets' of South Asia and the world. While the authors take the nation state for granted, they also consider its influence as a hindrance to realising a sensible notion of what South Asia could be.