The Perception of Citizenship in the Indian Context: Response to Hodgson's Paper

Abstract

In response to Naomi Hodgson's Paper 'European Citizenship: Economy, Parrhesia and Sublimation', I will first summarize the important points Hodgson has argued. Then, I will try to develop the discussion of citizenship by taking India's case as one example of the Asian perception of citizenship to contrast it with what Hodgson has suggested as European citizenship. The idea of citizenship is shaped by which aspect of it one is looking at. In other words, citizenship can be explored and practiced individually, locally, regionally, nationally and globally. In this paper, I will first develop the discussion of citizenship by examining how education or development was perceived at the national level in the creation of the citizens of India in the post-colonial period. Then, I will explain how attention is paid to the individual and to one's moral and ethical relation to one's self by referring to the Bhagavad-Gita, the oldest and the most popular epic in India.