J N U: The Making of India's National University, 1964-89

Jawaharlal Nehru University, Or Jnu As It Is Popularly Known, Is Perhaps India's Grandest Of Nationalist Institutions. It Embodies The Spirit Of An Earlier Nationalist Quest For Autonomous And Excellent Intellectual Life. In The Choice Of The Issues And The Confidence With Which The Disciplinary Boundaries Were Questioned, Jnu Tried To Constitute Itself As An Ethical Alter Ego Of The Nation. Jnu: The Making Of A University Is An Examination Of How An Institution Comes To Life - From Its Conception In 1964, To 1989 When It Entered A Phase Of Major Transition. It Brings To Life The Intricate Web Of Relationships Between The Founding Principles Of The University, Contemporary Politics, Social Transformations And The Historical Trajectories Of Indian Intellectual And Institutional Lives. The Book Is A Chronicle Of How The Community Of Scholars And Students Navigated Contested Domains Of Emerging Disciplines And Organized Politics, And How They Tried To Infuse Life And Movement Into Them In A Completely New And Uninhabited Physical And Intellectual Space. Packed With Details - Based On Parliamentary Proceedings, Newspaper Accounts, Interviews, Pamphlets And A Host Of Other Primary Sources - And Replete With Anecdotes And A Rare Intimate Knowledge, This Is Not Just The Story Of A University; It Is Also An Intellectual History Of India. Jawaharlal Nehru University, known popularly as JNU, is one of India's premier institutions of higher learning. This book explores the life of the university, from its conception in 1964 to the period when the institution was entering its phase of major transition in 1989. Unlike usual histories of universities, it brings to life the intricate web of relationship between the founding principles of the university, contemporary politics and society, and the historical trajectories of Indian intellectual and institutional lives. This is the definitive history of what, the author argues, may be the last of the nationalist institutions, and the grandest of them all.