[INDOLOGY] Imagining Sanskritland Book Announcement

[patrick mccartney]

Dear Friends,

I would like to share news of the imminent release of my second monograph,
which features as part of the *Routledge Studies of Sociolinguistics.*

*Titled: *‘Sanskrit-speaking’ Villages, Linguistic Utopias and the
Metaphysics of Development: Imagining Sanskritland
<https://www.routledge.com/Sanskrit-speaking-Villages-Linguistic-Utopias-and-the-Metaphysics-of-Development-Imagining-Sanskritland/McCartney/p/book/9781003476443>

*Description: *
This book is a recollection of McCartney’s journey across ‘Sanskritland,’
which is the term coined to refer to the utopian landscape within which the
‘Language of the Gods’ is thought to be spoken.

There are three destinations on the author’s journey. The first includes
understanding how Sanskrit narratives are woven into yoga-inflected
‘lifestyles,’ forming biographies operationalised toward soft-power
purposes. Next, the historical sociolinguistic contexts that have shaped
Sanskritland are discussed, framed by application in sustainable
development narratives. Finally, comprehensive demographic and linguistic
analyses of Sanskrit across all of India’s census enumerations (from 1872
to 2011) shows the ‘shifting sands’ of Sanskrit’s ‘speakers’ and how the
‘Sanskrit-speaking’ village data show that most people who identify as
speakers of Sanskrit live in urban areas and ‘speak’ Sanskrit as a third
language. All of these together shed light on how, why, and where Sanskrit
is spoken in the twenty-first century, the complex and dynamic historical
and contemporary contexts that have allowed this, and how both yoga and
Sanskrit are instruments for development and soft-power projects.

This book is an essential read for scholars and students of linguistic
anthropology, Indology and sustainable development.


*Reviews:*

'Bridges persistent gaps between philology, history and ethnography that
have plagued Indology. Through an empirical study of so-called "Vedic"
villages, the spoken Sanskrit movement, and transnational wellness
discourses around Yoga and Ayurveda, the author draws our attention to the
sociolinguistics, as it were, of an imaginary place called "Sanskritland".
Given the growing symbolic significance of Sanskrit to the construction of
a Hindu Rashtra, a space permeated by what policy parlance names "Indian
Knowledge Systems", this book appears not a moment too soon.'

*Ananya Vajpeyi, *Professor, *Centre for the Study of Developing Societies,
New Delhi*


*'Imagining Sanskritland* is a masterful exploration of the making of a
linguistic utopia, chiefly as an ideological project that has been shaped
by the troubles and travails of Hindutva. By putting contemporary Indian
populist nationalism in the spotlight, the many claims of
"Sanskrit-speaking"  for authenticity, morality and civilizational pride
are traced and studied within narratives about the wellness industry,
consumerism, sustainable development and ecological harmony. In helping us
understand  the many gaps and disconnects between the ideal worlds of
Sanskrit revivalism and the realities of the everyday, McCartney has made a
significant and stellar contribution to the study of cultural politics in
the age of contemporary populism.'

*Rohan D'Souza*, Professor, *ASAFAS, Kyoto University. *


'McCartney weaves decades of painstaking interdisciplinary research into
this close study of contemporary Sanskrit revival. Integrating
anthropological theory, archival research, Sanskrit studies,
sociolinguistics, census data, and careful fieldwork, his travels in
Sanskrit-speaking villages in India paint a compelling picture of the role
of language ideology in a time of profound social change. This study will
do what all powerful studies should do: question assumptions, topple
cultural icons, and create debate. The depth and breadth of intellectual
resources that McCartney brings to the topic make it a key resource for
anyone interested in the role of tradition in contemporary India.'

*Laurie L. Patton*, Professor of Religion Emerita, *Middlebury College*


Thank you for your support.


All the best,

Patrick McCartney, PhD
Hiroshima, Japan
New Book
<https://www.routledge.com/Sanskrit-speaking-Villages-Linguistic-Utopias-and-the-Metaphysics-of-Development-Imagining-Sanskritland/McCartney/p/book/9781032759746>
Earlier Book
<https://www.routledge.com/Authenticity-Legitimacy-and-the-Transglobal-Yoga-Industry-A-Sociological-Analysis-of-Shanti-Mandir/McCartney/p/book/9781032762357>
Latest Article
<http://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/ejvs/issue/view/1685>
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