Borrowing Hannah Arendt’s Methodology to do Political Research
in today’s India (Part I)
-by Sagnik Banerjee, Institute of Perception Studies, New Delhi
Perception Analysis Series/04/2021-22
Why should a researcher read Hannah Ardent today? What does it mean to read one of the most
prominent political thinkers of the twentieth century in today’s India? And what are the spatial
similarities between the context of Arendt’s oeuvre and India today? These questions are important
for us to avoid any mythical juxtaposition of a thinker’s work to another period of time and world,
an intellectual anachronism that Quentin Skinner called ‘Mythology of Coherence.’
The most celebrated work of Arendt, till date, is the ‘Origin of Totalitarianism’, written in 1940s
and 50s. Let us begin by unraveling a basic question needed for exegesis of a text: what was the
context of writing the text? In Arendt’s own words the book was written with an endeavor to
understand and “to tell what had happened, not yet sine ira et studio, still in grief and sorrow and,
hence, with a tendency to lament, but no longer in speechless outrage and impotent horror” of a
genocide, two world wars, two revolutions, anti-imperial movements that characterized the
twentieth century.
In apparent immanence, our time has remained innocuous and not witnessed any of the superlative
outpourings compared to the time in which Arendt wrote her book. Yet there are immense
similarities of the two historical epochs that force commentators to invoke examples from the Nazi
Germany and Fascist Italy, the immediate time period of Arendt’s work. The origin of
totalitarianism, in Hitler’s Germany or in Stalin’s Russia, as Arendt opines, has not caused from
without, but within the civilization itself – for her case they are the anti-Semitic movements in
Europe, corrupted bureaucracy in USSR and expansionist economical imperialism.
What defines our time? The old order has vanquished and with it the narrative of transcendental
politics has also taken a backstage. Instead, the victory of “[…] populist, xenophobic forces at the
ballot-box who use the ‘vote’ to stifle the voice of democratic dissent on the street”, empowered
by the ‘triumphant will of majoritarianism’ sweeps the world today, writes Professor Homi K.
Bhaba, who holds Arendt’s work pivotal for doing social-sciences and humanities today in India.
While diving further in Arendt’s writing in the later part of the article, we would see that the world
in general and India in particular today is at the verge of an upsurge of similar fascistic movements,
with anomalies albeit; the underlining causes behind the reinvigoration of these movements still
share their genealogical similitude with their 1930s predecessors.
Institute of Perception Studies, H-10, 1st Floor, Jungpura Extension, New Delhi – 110014
Website: www.ipsdelhi.org.in | Email: [email protected] | Mobile: 9810395996
Notably, Hannah Arendt took the proceedings at the world stage to make her analysis of the time.
No political research that seeks to explicate a time can afford to miss a universal outlook, especially
after the expansionist drive brought in by capitalism in the late nineteenth century. Is this relevant
for us to conduct research on India’s politics today? Can we take a particularistic attitude to
understand and analyze the political events? My probable answer to the questions is a definite
negative.
To sum up our points, there are two vital methodological points in Ardent’s work that the
researcher today should apply in her research on Indian politics. One, we should first identify the
political frontiers in today’s world that caused the disruptive apocalyptic fissures, such as Anti-
Semitism, Imperialism and Totalitarianism, enunciated in Arendt’s book, and then analyze their
causal relations with the recent eruption of ultra-jingoistic movements across the world, whether
in their continuity or disingenuity from their earlier avatar. Two, we should take the structural
balances of the world stage along with localized events from last couple of decades to understand
their influences on India’s politics. For Arendt the events of twentieth century were the outcomes
of a civilizational breaking point, but can her work today stands for the political researcher to judge
our time?
But another methodological question needs our attention. What is the best time to analyze an epoch
and its events? Is it after some cracks mark its separation from the earlier period? Or, is it during
a relative calm, after all hopes relatively evaporates, that a comprehensive vantage point can be
approached? We would take the first question to further the analysis and leaving the second at the
mercy of Hegel, for whom, the ‘the owl of Minerva only stretches its wings in the dusk’ – not at
the end of the day.
Bibliography
Arendt, H. (2017). Origins of Totalitarianism. London: Penguin.
Bhaba, H.K. (2019). Hannah Arendt and the New Nationalist Barbarians.
https://thewire.in/society/hannah-arendt-and-the-new-nationalist-barbarians
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s).
They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Institute of Perception
Studies.
Institute of Perception Studies, H-10, 1st Floor, Jungpura Extension, New Delhi – 110014
Website: www.ipsdelhi.org.in | Email: [email protected] | Mobile: 9810395996
