Book Review: In Spite of the Gods by Ed Luce - Page 2

However, Luce can often be critical of India too. In a rare moment of sweeping generalizations he says:

The rest of the world could learn a lot from India, among which tolerance, the management of diversity, and the rooting of democracy in a traditional society loom large. If world trade were to be conducted purely in cultural products, then India would have a thumping annual surplus. But India continues to lack in practice - if not in principle - the basic condition of genuine citizenship — [Equal citizenship] in practice falls far short of the claims it [the constitution] makes.

Such statements should not be swept aside, least of all by Indians. For while Luce is an observer par excellence — and this is an exceptional book about India — it is a book for India too. It may be humorous (India is described as both a "functioning anarchy", and a "lorry on twelve wheels"), but the challenges it identifies for India's future are very real.

Luce's extended analysis suggests that Indian concepts of ethics, social construction, and political economy have their problems, and often cause inequities that prevent India from achieving its destiny. But he also accepts that the west does not have a monopoly on ideals of modernity, admitting even that it can coexist with tradition.

In dealing with that contradiction, Luce still manages to do what no other western observer has been able to do - view India through a lens uncolored by western conceptions of liberalism, secularism, or development. If this book had nothing else to offer, that itself would be sufficient to recommend it.

Article Author: Dweep Chanana

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