{"product_id":"outside-the-fold-conversion-modernity-and-belief-9780691058993","title":"Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eOutside the Fold\u003c\/i\u003e is a radical reexamination of religious conversion. Gauri Viswanathan skillfully argues that conversion is an interpretive act that belongs in the realm of cultural criticism. To that end, this work examines key moments in colonial and postcolonial history to show how conversion questions the limitations of secular ideologies, particularly the discourse of rights central to both the British empire and the British nation-state. Implicit in such questioning is an attempt to construct an alternative epistemological and ethical foundation of national community. Viswanathan grounds her study in an examination of two simultaneous and, she asserts, linked events: the legal emancipation of religious minorities in England and the acculturation of colonial subjects to British rule. The author views these two apparently disparate events as part of a common pattern of national consolidation that produced the English state. She seeks to explain why resistance, in both cases, frequently took the form of religious conversion, especially to \"minority\" or alternative religions. Confronting the general characterization of conversion as assimilative and annihilating of identity, Viswanathan demonstrates that a willful change of religion can be seen instead as an act of opposition. \u003ci\u003eOutside the Fold\u003c\/i\u003e concludes that, as a form of cultural crossing, conversion comes to represent a vital release into difference. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough the figure of the convert, Viswanathan addresses the vexing question of the role of belief and minority discourse in modern society. She establishes new points of contact between the convert as religious dissenter and as colonial subject. This convergence provides a transcultural perspective not otherwise visible in literary and historical texts. It allows for radically new readings of significant figures as diverse as John Henry Newman, Pandita Ramabai, Annie Besant, and B. R. Ambedkar, as well as close studies of court cases, census reports, and popular English fiction. These varying texts illuminate the means by which discourses of religious identity are produced, contained, or opposed by the languages of law, reason, and classificatory knowledge. \u003ci\u003eOutside the Fold\u003c\/i\u003e is a challenging, provocative contribution to the multidisciplinary field of cultural studies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gauri Viswanathan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/31\/1998\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.12lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.28h x 6.16w x 0.85d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691058993\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGauri Viswanathan\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eMasks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40846705721459,"sku":"9.78069E+12","price":86.04,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_4ba5a557-bbbe-47dd-b049-b7923f1a157d.jpg?v=1686145750","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/outside-the-fold-conversion-modernity-and-belief-9780691058993","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}