S. N. Balagangadhara

S. N. Balagangadhara (aka Balu) is a former professor of the Ghent University in Belgium, and director of the now derelict India Platform and the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cutuurwetenschap (Comparative Science of Cultures).

S. N. Balagangadhara
Born (1952-01-03) 3 January 1952
Bangalore, Mysore State, India
NationalityBelgian
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionWestern & Indian Philosophy
SchoolVergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap, Comparative Science of Cultures
Main interests
Religious Studies
Cultural Studies
Post-colonial Studies
Orientalism
Ethics
Political Philosophy
History of ideas
South Asian Studies
Notable ideas
Explanatory Intelligible Account,
Colonial Consciousness,
Indian Renaissance

Early life and education

Balagangadhara was a student of National College, Bangalore and moved to Belgium in 1977 to study philosophy at Ghent University, where he obtained his doctorate under the supervision of Etienne Vermeersch.[1] His doctoral thesis (1991) was entitled Comparative Science of Cultures and the Universality of Religion: An Essay on Worlds without Views and Views without the World.

Career

Balagangadhara's research centers on the comparative study of Western culture against the background of Indian culture; the program has been named "Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap / Comparative Science of Cultures".[1] He analyses western culture and intellectual thought through its representations of other cultures, with a particular focus on the western representations of India and attempts to translate the knowledge embodied by the Indian traditions into western conceptual frameworks.

Works and reception

His first monograph was The Heathen in his Blindness... (1994, BRILL).[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

His second major work, Reconceptualizing India Studies, appeared in 2012 and argues that post-colonial studies and modern India studies are in need of a rejuvenation.[9][5] After Said's Orientalism (1978), post-colonialism, as a discipline, has not contributed much to human knowledge. A strange form of unproductive self-reflection and impenetrable jargon has come to stand for and replace theory building and knowledge production. The book attempts to chalk out a potential direction for the social-scientific study of Indian culture. Stressing the need for an alternative understanding of Western culture, Balagangadhara argues that Hinduism, caste system, and secularism are not colonial constructs but entities within the Western cultural experience. He argues that the so-called facts about India and her traditions are a result of colonial consciousness.

Honors

He has held the co-chair of the Hinduism Unit at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) from 2004 to 2007.[11] On 1 October 2013, University of Pardubice (Czech Republic) awarded him with its honorary doctorate for: (a) the outstanding development of the comparative science of cultures and religions, (b) the development of the collaborations between European and Indian universities, and (c) his contribution to the development of the Studies of religions at the University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy.[12][13][14][15]

Projects

Selected publications

Books
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (1994). "The Heathen in his Blindness..." Asia, the West, and the Dynamic of Religion. Leiden, New York: E. J. Brill. p. 563. ISBN 978-90-04-09943-2. | (Second, revised edition, New Delhi, Manohar, 2005, ISBN 81-7304-608-5) | Preview at Google Books | Find in libraries near you
  • Balagangadhara, S. N.; Jhingran, Divya (2014). Do All Road Lead to Jerusalem?: The Making of Indian Religions. New Delhi: Manohar. ISBN 978-93-5098-061-3. |

Book chapters
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. & Claerhout, Sarah (2014) "De antieken en het vroege christendom: een heidense visie uit India" in D. Praet & N. Grillaert (Eds.), Christendom en Filosofie. Gent: Academia Press, pp. 51–82
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. & De Roover, Jakob (2012) "The Dark Hour of Secularism: Hindu Fundamentalism and Colonial Liberalism in India" in R. Ghosh (Ed.), Making Sense of the Secular: Critical Perspectives from Europe to Asia. New York: Routledge, pp. 111–130
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (2010) "Orientalism, Postcolonialism, and the 'Construction' of Religion" in Bloch, Keppens & Hegde (Eds.), Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism. New York: Routledge, pp. 135–163
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (2009) "Spirituality in Management Theories: A Perspective from India" in S. Nandram & M. Borden (Eds.) Spirituality and Business: Exploring Possibilities for a New Management Paradigm. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 45–60
  • Balagangadhara, S. N.; Bloch, Esther, De Roover, Jakob (2008), "Rethinking Colonialism and Colonial Consciousness: The Case of Modern India." in S. Raval (Ed.), Rethinking Forms of Knowledge in India. Delhi: Pencraft International, pp. 179–212.
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (2007), "Foreword." In Ramaswamy, de Nicolas & Banerjee (Eds.), Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America . Delhi: Rupa & Co., pp. vii–xi.
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (2007), "Balagangadhara on the Biblical Underpinnings of 'Secular' Social Sciences." In Ramaswamy, de Nicolas & Banerjee (Eds.), Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America . Delhi: Rupa & Co., pp. 123–31.
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (2007), "India and her Traditions: A Reply to Jeffrey Kripal." In Ramaswamy, de Nicolas & Banerjee (Eds.), Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America . Delhi: Rupa & Co., pp. 429–447.
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (2006), "Secularisation as the Harbinger of Religious Violence in India: Hybridisation, Hindutva and Post-coloniality." In Schirmer, Saalmann & Kessler (Eds.), Hybridising East and West, Tales Beyond Westernisation. Empirical Contributions to the Debates on Hybridity. Berlin: Lit Verlag, pp. 145–182.
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. (1991) "The Reality of the Elusive Man?" In Nispen & Tiemersma (Eds.), The Quest of Man: The Topicality of Philosophical Anthropology. Assen: von Gorcum, pp. 112–116
  • Balagangadhara, S. N. & Pinxten, R. (1989), "Comparative Anthropology and Rhetorics in Cultures". In Maier, Robert (Ed.), Norms in Argumentation. Dordrecht: Foris, pp. 195–211.

Articles

References
  1. Anantharaman, Sudha (9 December 2007). "In search of new idioms". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  2. Almond, Philip C. (1 July 1996). "'The Heathen in his Blindness'?". Cultural Dynamics. 8 (2): 137–145. doi:10.1177/092137409600800203. ISSN 0921-3740.
  3. Trompf, Garry (1998). "Review of "The Heathen in his Blindness..." Asia, the West and the Dynamic of Religion. (Studies in the History of Religions 64)". Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. 10 (2): 227–231. ISSN 0943-3058.
  4. Larson, Gerald (1997). "Review of "The Heathen in His Blindness...": Asia, the West and the Dynamic of Religion". Philosophy East and West. 47 (3): 433–435. doi:10.2307/1399914. ISSN 0031-8221.
  5. Sutton, Deborah Ruth (3 July 2018). "'So called caste': S. N. Balagangadhara, the Ghent School and the Politics of grievance". Contemporary South Asia. 26 (3): 336–349. doi:10.1080/09584935.2018.1498453. ISSN 0958-4935.
  6. "Book Review Essays". American Anthropologist. 98 (1): 162–163. 1996. doi:10.1525/aa.1996.98.1.02a00180. ISSN 1548-1433.
  7. Kannan, Sushumna (31 December 2010). "Meaningful encounter". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  8. Rosemont, Henry (1 July 1996). "How do You Learn to be Religious?: A Response to S.N. Balagangadhara". Cultural Dynamics. 8 (2): 161–169. doi:10.1177/092137409600800205. ISSN 0921-3740.
  9. Shah, Prakash (2014). Balagangadhara, S. N. (ed.). "Critiquing the Western Account of India Studies within a Comparative Science of Cultures". International Journal of Hindu Studies. 18 (1): 67–72. ISSN 1022-4556.
  10. "Hindutva and historical revisionism". History Workshop. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  11. [AAR News] (March 2007). "Religious Studies News" (PDF). 22 (2): 5. Retrieved 1 March 2014. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. Vorel, Petr. "LAUDATIO: Prof. Dr. S. N. Bálagangádhara Ráo" (PDF). University of Pardubice. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  13. "Dokumenty Univerzity Pardubice". Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  14. "Aktuality". University of Pardubice. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  15. "Photos of the Ceremony". University of Pardubice. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  16. "A documentary about the Centre". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  17. The Hindu, Online edition of India's National Newspaper, Monday, Aug 13, 2007
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