Arms, Arts and Agriculture: Indo-Mexican Intellectual Connections in the Early Twentieth Century
This paper explores a largely unknown intellectual and political connection between India and Mexico in the early twentieth century. First, I look at the life of Pandurang Khankhoje, an India revolutionairy that settled in Mexico in 1924. Second, and in order to fully comprehend Khankhoje’s arrival to Mexico, I analyse the political thought of José Vasconcelos and the influence that some aspects of Indian philosophy and culture had on his vision of a Mexican nation of the future. Vasconcelos nourished a cultural environment that would facilitate the inclusion Khankhoje into a small group of influential politicians and artists of the likes of Diego Rivera and Tina Modotti. This group not only shaped the culture of Mexico’s post-revolutionary years, it would also imagine an alternative vision of the world in which south to south cooperation could challenge the intellectual and cultural dominance of the ‘West’.
Date:
4 February 2020, 14:00 (Tuesday, 3rd week, Hilary 2020)
Venue:
St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details:
Syndicate Room, Old Main Building (Basement)
Speaker:
Jesus Chairez-Garcia (Manchester)
Organising department:
Asian Studies Centre
Organiser contact email address:
asian@sant.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
Modern South Asian Studies Seminar Series
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Clare Salter
