LECTURE TOUR 1997 – Partha Chatterjee

Our Modernity – Partha Chatterjee

When: 1997

Were: Senegal and Ivory Coat

Institutions: Codesria

My subject is ‘modernity,’ but more specifically, ‘our’ modernity. In making the distinction I am trying to point out that there might be modernities that are not ours, or, to put it another way, that there are certain peculiarities about our modernity. It could be the case that what others think of as modern, we have found unacceptable, whereas what we have cherished as valuable elements of our modernity, others do not consider to be modern at all. Whether we should be proud of these differences or embarrassed by them is a question I will take up later. For the moment, let us consider how we have conceived of our modernity.