Freedom to KnowCreating Community with Ambedkar, Du Bois, Iqbal, Ramabai and Tagore

The geography of reason has shifted. For decades, W.E.B. Du Bois has been deemed “philosophical” only to the extent that he could be read in relation to American pragmatists or German idealists. Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach’s Freedom to Know refuses this complicity with the limitations of Western philosophy. She reads Du Bois alongside Bhimrao Ambedkar, Pandita Ramabai, Rabindranath Tagore, and Mohammed Iqbal as thinkers striving to reclaim the dignity and humanity denied to the darker races of the world by white supremacy. This marks an exciting turn in Du Bois scholarship and a novel intervention in anti-colonial theory.

Professor Kirloskar-Steinbach’s Freedom to Know is a welcome addition to the literature on Indian philosophy in the pre-independence period and on the relationships between Indian philosophers and their colleagues outside of India during that period. Drawing creatively on contemporary feminist epistemology, Kirloskar-Steinbach explores with great clarity the diverse ways in which B.R. Ambedkar. W.E.B. DuBois, Muhammed Iqbal, Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati, and Rabindranath Tagore critique colonial, Indian, and American hierarchies of caste, race, religious communities, gender, and nationality, and the ways in which this group of philosophers developed a liberative cosmopolitan vision in the context of colonialism and racism. The treatment of each philosopher is lucid, and the fabric Prof. Kirloskar-Steinbach weaves is shimmering and illuminating. A must-read for anyone interested in the history of 20th century philosophy or in Indian intellectual history.

Can the subaltern … know? Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach delivers a philosophical tour de force, reshaping the ways we think about knowledge, race, and the contours of global political thought. Theoretically sharp and historically grounded, Freedom to Know is essential reading for anyone interested in comparative political theory and global philosophy.

Freedom to Know brings together a cast of unlikely characters--poets, constitutionalists, philosophers from India and the US to draw our attention to the way that epistemic arrogance and colonial dominance concealed the robust and astute insights of thinkers living under European and U.S.-based imperialism. Kirloskar-Steinbach unravels the complex intellectual and geopolitical paths of each thinker, illuminating their insights and shared political goals. This work is clearly written, belying the enormous labors and skills required to understand each in their epistemic depths. In doing so, she reveals their decolonial approaches to undo the violence of colonialism. This book will appeal to scholars of South Asian studies, Islamic studies, African American thought, not to mention political philosophers and thinkers. A crucial read.