Gopal Guru

Gopal Guru is an Indian political scientist. He is the editor of the journal Economic and Political Weekly.^[1][2] He is a retired professor in political science at Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.^[1][3] He was a visiting professor at Columbia University, Oxford University and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.^[4][5] Earlier, he taught at the University of Delhi and the University of Pune.^[6]

Career

Gopal Guru is the author of numerous articles on Dalit discourse, women, politics and philosophy.^[7] His specialisation includes Indian Political Thought, Humiliation, Social Movements etc. He is considered to be one of the high ranking academics to open up caste debates in the study of liberal arts in India.^[1][8] He pioneered new dimensions in the re-thinking of Dalit discourse with the introduction of critical theory in understanding questions of constructions and fallout of Dalit identity in India. His work primarily brings ethics back into theorizing and philosophizing Dalit discourses which, for decades, were lost in the debates of representational politics.^[9] His academic works theorizes on the moral categories of self-respect, recognition, shame, dignity, humiliation and at the same time re-asserts a non-instrumentalist view of rationality in explaining matters of social justice.^[4][10]

He delivered the first in a series of eight open lectures delivered on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus (17–24 February 2016), after the campus was branded anti-national by sangh parivar forces.^[11] He said that, the nation cannot be defined in terms of borders alone, and contended that there has to be "radical rotation" in society, that the economic and social aspects of a nation should be considered together, and the economic should not get precedence over the social.^[11][12] He also argued that Gandhi took Ambedkar much more seriously than other thinkers and leaders, who were their contemporary like Rabindranath Tagore.^[13]

Awards

• He received Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contribution to Development Studies for 2013–14.^[14]

Important Works

Gopal Guru has authored more than 120 articles and book chapters in various international journals and publishers.^[3][15] He also frequently writes in Indian Magazines and News Papers.^[16][17]

Books

• Gopal Guru (ed). Humiliation: Claims and Context, Oxford University Press (2009), New Delhi.^[18]
• Gopal Guru & Sunder Sarukkai. The Cracked Mirror, Oxford University Press (2017), New Delhi.^[19][20]
• Gopal Guru (ed). Atrophy in Dalit Politics, Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (2005), Mumbai.^[21]
• Gopal Guru & Sunder Sarukkai. Experience, Caste, and the Everyday Social, Oxford University Press (2020), New Delhi.^[22]

Book Chapter

• ‘Dalits in Pursuit of Modernity’, in Romila Thapar (Ed.), India another Millennium, New Delhi, Penguin-Viking (2000), New Delhi.^[23]
• ‘Constitutional Justice: Positional and Cultural’, in ed., Rajeev Bhargava, Politics and Philosophy of Indian Constitution, Oxford University Press (2008), New Delhi.^[24]
• ‘20th Century Discourse on Social Justice: a view from Bahishkrut Baharat’, in ed., Sabhyasachi Bhattacharya, History, Political thought in Modern India and Social Science, Oxford University Press (2007), New Delhi.

Journal articles

• "How Egalitarian are the Social Sciences in India?," Economic & Political Weekly, vol.37, No.5 (2002): 5003–09.^[25]
• ‘Appropriating Ambedkar‘, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 26, No.27/28 (1991): 1697–1699.^[26]
• "Archaeology of Untouchability", Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 44, No. 37(2009): 49–56.^[27]
• "The Idea of India: Derivative, Desi and Beyond," Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 46, No. 37 (2011): 36–42.^[28]
• Migration: A Moral Protest, Social Change (SAGE), 24 June 2019.^[29]
• The Language of Social Sciences in India, Review of Development and Change (SAGE), 19 July 2019.^[30]

References

1. "Political Scientist Gopal Guru Appointed New Editor of EPW". The Wire. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
2. "Professor Gopal Guru appointed Editor of EPW". The Hindu. PTI. 4 January 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 May 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
3. "Gopal Guru". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
4. "Gopal Guru". Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). 19 August 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
5. "15th Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture (AML) 2019: 'Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's Thoughts on Moral Foundation of Democracy' | TISS". www.tiss.edu. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
6. "PLENARY SPEAKERS BIOS | International Conference on Caste and Race: Reconfiguring Solidarities". engagement.umass.edu. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
7. Wire.in, The (6 January 2018). "Gopal Guru appointed new editor of Economic and Political Weekly". Business Standard India. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
8. "Campus with a difference". The Indian Express. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
9. "GURU, Gopal". GLOBAL SOCIAL THEORY. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
10. Guru, Gopal. "Was the displacement of Pandits a greater tragedy than the displacement of Dalits?". Scroll.in. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
11. Dixit, Shubhra. "The nation cannot be defined in terms of borders alone: watch JNU Professor Gopal Guru's historic public lecture". Scroll.in. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
12. Ramani, Srinivasan (25 February 2016). "Nationalism that's progressive". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
13. "Mahatma Gandhi took BR Ambedkar much more seriously than others: JNU professor". The Indian Express. 27 November 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
14. "Malcolm Adiseshiah award for Gopal Guru". The Hindu. 19 April 2013. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
15. "Gopal Guru". Economic and Political Weekly. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
16. "JNU Political Science professor Gopal Guru appointed as editor of EPW for five years". Firstpost. PTI. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
17. "Articles by Gopal Guru". magazine.outlookindia.com/. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
18. Guru, Gopal, ed. (2011). Humiliation: claims and context. Oxford India paperbacks. New Delhi ; New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-807492-2.
19. Guru, Gopal; Sarukkai, Sundar (27 July 2017). The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-947459-2.
20. Giri, Ananta Kumar (1 October 2014). "Book Review: Gopal Guru and Sundar Sarukkai. 2012. The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory". Contributions to Indian Sociology. 48 (3): 445–449. doi:10.1177/0069966714540237. ISSN 0069-9667. S2CID 145519418.
21. Guru, Gopal (2005). Atrophy in Dalit Politics. Vikas Adhyayan Kendra.
22. Experience, Caste, and the Everyday Social. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 5 January 2020. ISBN 978-0-19-949605-1.
23. Thapar, Romila (2000). India: Another Millennium?. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-89645-5.
24. Bhargava, Rajeev (3 September 2009). Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution. Oxford India Paperbacks. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-806355-1.
25. Guru, Gopal (2002). "How Egalitarian Are the Social Sciences in India?". Economic and Political Weekly. 37 (50): 5003–5009. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 4412959.
26. Guru, Gopal (1991). "Appropriating Ambedkar". Economic and Political Weekly. 26 (27/28): 1697–1699. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 4398126.
27. GURU, GOPAL (2009). "Archaeology of Untouchability". Economic and Political Weekly. 44 (37): 49–56. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 25663543.
28. "Vol. 46, No. 37, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011 of Economic and Political Weekly on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
29. Guru, Gopal (1 June 2019). "Migration: A Moral Protest". Social Change. 49 (2): 315–328. doi:10.1177/0049085719844108. ISSN 0049-0857. S2CID 198791719.
30. Guru, Gopal (1 December 2011). "The Language of Social Sciences in India". Review of Development and Change. 16 (2): 145–159. doi:10.1177/0972266120110201. ISSN 0972-2661. S2CID 199865739.