Social Theory and Asian Dialogues

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxix

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2. Social Theory and Asian Dialogues: An Introduction and an Invitation

   • Ananta Kumar Giri

   Pages 1-5

3. Theorizing as Dancing Transformations: Social Theory, Asian Dialogues and Beyond

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

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   2. Social Theory and Asian Dialogues: Cultivating Planetary Conversations

      • Ananta Kumar Giri

      Pages 9-33

   3. Theorizing Alternative Futures of Asia: Activating Enabling Traditions

      • Marcus Bussey

      Pages 35-47

   4. Critical Theory After the Rise of the Global South

      • Boike Rehbein

      Pages 49-67

   5. Beyond Ethnocentrism: Towards a Global Social Theory

      • Hans-Herbert Kögler, Ľubomír Dunaj

      Pages 69-106

4. Social Theory and Asian Dialogues: Creative Engagement and Transformative Learning

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 107-107

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   2. Selfhood and Morality: East Asian and Western Dimensions

      • Geir Sigurðsson

      Pages 109-125

   3. Iridescent Self in the Womb of the Wholly M(O)ther: A Vajrayani Meditation

      • Neela Bhattacharya Saxena

      Pages 127-144

   4. The Taijitu, Western Dialectics and Brain Hemisphere Function: A Dialogue Facilitated by the Scholarship of Complex Integration

      • Gary P. Hampson

      Pages 145-172

   5. A Middle Way of Emptying Dualism in Social Theory

      • Chou Ping

      Pages 173-211

   6. Indo-Chinese Knowledge and Wisdom: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue Between Confucius and Tiruvalluvar

      • S. Panneerselvam

      Pages 213-232

   7. Dancing East and West: Charting Intercultural Possibilities in the Thought of Gilles Deleuze and Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

      • Marcus Bussey

      Pages 233-248

   8. The Micropolitics and Metaphysics of Mobility and Nomadism: A Comparative Study of Rahul Sankrityayan’s Ghumakkaṛ Śāstra and Gilles Deleuze / Félix Guattari’s “Nomadology”

      • Subir Rana

      Pages 249-270

   9. From Ecological Ontology to Social Ecology: John Dewey, Radhakamal Mukerjee, and Interscalar Ethics

      • Betsy Taylor, Herbert G. Reid

      Pages 271-286

5. Social Theory and Asian Dialogues: Asia, Europe and the Call of Planetary Conversions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 287-287

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   2. Nature, Culture and the Debate with Modernity: Critical Social Theory in Japan

      • John Clammer

      Pages 289-315

   3. The Self-Description of Society in East Asia: If It Is Not Society, What Else Could It Be?

      • Saburo Akahori

      Pages 317-327

   4. An Intercultural Perspective on Chinese Aesthetics

      • Karl-Heinz Pohl

      Pages 329-341

Critically exploring the presuppositions of contemporary social theory, this collection argues for a trans-civilizational dialogue and a deepening of the universe of intellectual discourse in order to transform sociology into a truly planetary conversation on the human condition. Focusing on perspectives from Asia, notably East Asia and India, it interrogates presuppositions in contemporary critical social theory about man, culture and society, and considers central themes such as knowledge and power, knowledge and liberation. The diverse contributions tackle key questions such the globalization of social theory, identity and society in east asia, as well as issues such as biopolitics, social welfare and eurocentrism. They also examine dialogues along multiple trajectories between social theorists from the Euro-American world and from the Asian universe, such as between Kant and Gandhi, Habermas and Sri Aurobindo, the Bildung tradition in Europe and the Confucian traditions. Arguing for a global comparative engagement and cross-cultural dialogue, this is a key read for all those interested in the future of social theory in the wake of globalization and the rise of the global south.

• Contemporary sSocial Theory and Globalisation
• Identity and Society in Asia
• Social Theory and the Rise of the Global South
• Global Engagement of Intellectual Community
• Sociology, Ethics and Social Action
• Social Welfare and Development in East and West
• Ecological Ontology and Social Ecology
• Intercultural Perspective on Chinese Aesthetics
• Leftist Critical Thinking in Indonesia

• Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India

  Ananta Kumar Giri

Ananta Kumar Giri is on the faculty of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India. He has taught and done research at universities in India and abroad, including Aalborg University in Denmark, the University of Kentucky, USA, the University of Freiburg & Humboldt University, Germany and Jagiellonian University in Poland. His research interests lie in social movements and cultural change, criticism, creativity and contemporary dialectics of transformation, theories of self, culture and society, and creative streams in education, philosophy and literature. 

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