Khadi: Gandhi′s Mega Symbol of Subversion

Peter Gonsalves, PhD, currently teaches the Sciences of Social Communication at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome.He began his career in media as a community worker for rural development at the Bosco Gramin Vikas Kendra, Ahmednagar. He founded Tej-prasarini, Mumbai, a multimedia production centre to raise awareness of the urgency of life-based education in South Asia. He promoted a series of teacher-training manuals called ‘Quality Life Education’, the first of which was his own work: Exercises in Media Education (1994). Using this, he conducted no less than 40 all-India courses on media education for schoolteachers, social workers and youth facilitators form diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.Dr Gonsalves is a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco, an international society dedicated to the holistic development of young people. He coordinated its first five-language web portal at its headquarters in Rome. He was also president of INTERSIG, the international wing of SIGNIS, a world association of communicators for a culture of peace.

The significance of khadi has already been explored by a number of scholars from different angles. Peter Gonsalves has made his foray into this area, writing largely from a communication perspective, first in his book Clothing for Liberation (SAGE, 2010), and now in this sequel, which lays out the historical foundation for the theoretical claims on Gandhian sartorial communication published in his previous work. It covers new ground by highlighting the ′subversive′ nature of Gandhi′s sartorial choices through a range of disciplines, and has brought Gandhian communication through attire to centre stage.I am sure the academic community and communication specialists would welcome its effort to highlight brilliantly the communicative power of an ordinary cloth to mould a national movement that dethroned colonialism while subverting the values it upheld.

• Foreword - John S Moolakkattu IntroductionI : SUBVERTING THE SELFThe Passion to Be an ′English Gentleman′ (1869-1891)In Search of Sartorial Significance (1892-1913)′Unclothing′ of the Mahatma (1914-1948)II: ECO-POLITICAL SUBVERSIONThe Rape of IndiaGandhi′s Eco-political SubversionControversyIII: PSYCHO-CULTURAL SUBVERSIONInferiorisation of the PeopleGandhi′s Psycho-cultural SubversionControversyIV: SOCIO-RELIGIOUS SUBVERSION-UNTOUCHABILITYIndia′s ShameGandhi′s Socio-religious Subversion-UntouchabilityControversyV: SOCIO-RELIGIOUS SUBVERSION-MILITANCYIndia′s SchismGandhi′s Socio-religious Subversion-MilitancyControversyVI: THE PHILOSOPHY OF GANDHIAN SUBVERSION THROUGH KHADIFoundational Principles of Gandhian SubversionThe Metaphysics of KhadiConclusionAppendixGlossary of Sanskrit and Indian VocabularyTimeline of Gandhi and the Swadeshi MovementIndex