Reading Pierre Bourdieu in a Dual Context Essays from India and France

This collection of articles is based on an Indo-French seminar on Pierre Bourdieu held to honour the work of this innovative social thinker who died in January 2002. It discusses the crises of imperial societies; the concept of state for Bourdieu and Foucault; Bourdieu?s theory of the symbolic; literature and politics during the German occupation; symbolic violence and masculine dominance in the Vichy regime; the notion of habitus, performance and women?s experience in everyday life; Bourdieu and anthropology; and violence in the Bombay riots. Students and teachers alike will find it a stimulating read.

Introduction by the Editors 1. The Crises of Imperial Societies2. Thinking the State with Bourdieu and Foucault3. Bourdieu’s Theory of the Symbolic: Traditions and Innovations4. The Field of Indian Knowledge in France in the 1930s5. Literature and Politics During the German Occupation6. Symbolic Violence and Masculine dominance in the Vichy Regime7. Habitus, Performance and Women’s Experience in Everyday Life 8. Pierre Bourdieu and Anthropology9. Documents and Testimony: Violence in the Bombay Riots. Index

Roland Lardinois teaches at the CNRS, Paris.

Meenakshi Thapan teaches in the Department of Sociology, University of Delhi.