Exploring Modern Temporality, History and Beyond: A Comparative Analysis of Giambattista Vico and Jyotiba Phule

<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems School of Social Sciences</strong> <strong>CSSS Colloquium</strong> <strong>Dr. Aparna Devare</strong> (University of Hyderabad) <strong>a talk on Exploring Modern Temporality, History and Beyond: A Comparative Analysis of Giambattista Vico and Jyotiba Phule</strong> Date : <strong>November 2nd 2015 </strong> <strong>Abstract: </strong>In this paper I undertake a comparative analysis of two intellectual figures from varied historical periods and cultural contexts in order to explore the similarities between them in the manner in which they approached myths. Both Vico and Phule historicized and rationalized ancient myths (Greek and Indian respectively) in a similar fashion, introducing new historical ideas into their societies. Both read myths as reflections of a historical context, highlighting them as social constructs. And yet Phule went beyond Vico in fashioning alternative mythologies. He did not stop at deconstructing ancient myths but sought to reconstruct them in order to provide an alternative politics of the present. I read this difference as indicative of different ways modernity has approached the past in the west and non-west. Phule draws on a living past unlike Vico for whom the past can only provide a rich source for historical analysis. . Bio Data: Aparna Devare teaches at the University of Hyderabad, and has previously taught at the American University and George Washington University, Washington DC. Her research interests are in the areas of Indian political thought, post-colonialism, South Asian studies, World politics and International relations theory. She is the author of History and the Making of a Modern Hindu Self (Routledge, 2011).