Idealizing a past by stripping its material basis persists as cultural nationalism
Evidence
I should clarify, therefore, that what I am illustrating here is not Gandhism as such but a certain way of idealizing a past by eliminating all its material co-ordinates – that is to say, a certain strand of obscurantist indigenism which unfortunately surfaced in Gandhi’s thought much too frequently; which was radically opposed to the way Marx thought of these matters; and which still lives today, in many forms, under the insignia, always, of cultural nationalism and opposed, always, to strands of thought derived from Marxism. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 472
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines ‘obscurantist indigenism’ as idealizing a past by eliminating its material co-ordinates.
- XREF: connects to: Nationalism paired with populism breeds nostalgia and resentment politics — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 785; Cultural nationalism can smuggle in obscurantism merely by inverting the traditionmodernity binary — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 49; Cultural nationalism remains the constitutive ideology of Third World literary theory. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 263 (+3 more)
Related
- Culturalist postcolonial labeling is arrant idealism that levels history (similarity 0.86)
- Cultural nationalism can smuggle in obscurantism merely by inverting the traditionmodernity binary (similarity 0.86)
- Cultural nationalism remains the constitutive ideology of Third World literary theory. (similarity 0.81)
- Cultural nationalism assumes speaking from one’s own tradition is anti-imperialist resistance (similarity 0.78)