Audacious Hope

About the Book

A POWERFUL DOCUMENTATION OF INDIAN CITIZENS DEFENDING THEIR DEMOCRACY

As the pillars of democracy crumble across the globe, big and small actions of resistance prop up hope and keep alive a way to rebuild. In the past few decades, ordinary folk in India have stood up to repressive state authority over and over again. Their vital acts of hope preserve the collective spirit of resistance and unwavering resilience necessary to continue the fight for democracy.

Audacious Hope is a careful, rigorous archive of these struggles, including the protests that united farmers across state borders in 2020 and the national outcry following the controversial CAA legislation. From the myriad ways people came to the aid of their fellow citizens during the pandemic to the testing of free-speech boundaries by cultural activists, this book undertakes the task of documenting resistance in its many forms.

Roy challenges the reader with his account of how a proud people are battling to save their beloved democracy. The question is, how can we, through individual and collective action, resist authoritarianism, casteism and majoritarianism? The answer is, of course, through the audacity of hope.

About the Author

Indrajit Roy is Professor of Global Development Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York. He specialises in the study of Indian politics in comparative and historical perspectives. Roy is co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to Indian Politics and Society, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press in 2024. He holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford.