• ISBN13: 9788132107354
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Politics and Current Affairs
• Publisher: Sage Publications
• Publisher Imprint: SAGE India
• Publication Date: January 1, 2012
• Pages: 323
• Original Price: INR 1195.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 449 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): International Relations / General

Khadi: Gandhi`s Mega Symbol of Subversion investigates the power of a symbol to qualitatively transform society by studying Mahatma Gandhi’s use of clothing as a metaphor for unity, empowerment and liberation from imperial subjugation.

The book brings together historical evidence of Gandhi’s search for a semiotics of attire in his quest for personal integrity and socio-political change. From a multidisciplinary perspective, it closely examines the subversion underlying his sartorial communication.

The author also discusses the complex challenges in Gandhi’s highly polarized environment, such as the conflict between the British Empire and the Indian National Congress, Hindu–Muslim tensions, the urban–rural divide, and the question of untouchability.

The author examines the symbolic potential for change which khadi has, not merely as ‘revolution’ or ‘sedition’, but as a sustained, well-organised strategy for achieving full independence or purna swaraj.

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.