Pradip Basu

Professor , Dean of the Humanities and Social Sciences

• M.A. (Political Science), University of Calcutta, 1982
• Ph.D. (Political Science), University of Calcutta, 1996

I was born in 1957 in Kolkata. In school I was a student of Science stream and after H.S. Examination (1973) I started to study Science which i left unfinished and finally completed Political Science Honours. In the meanwhile, I got actively involved in Naxalite politics during 1974-1981. But gradually, I grew critical of Naxalism and orthodox Marxism and became interested in Western Marxism, Gramsci, Althusser, Frankfurt School, and  over time I further moved towards post-structuralism, especially Foucault and Derrida, postmodernism, postcolonialism and feminism. Finally, I began to believe in a possible dialogue between Naxalism/ Marxism on the one hand , and post-structuralism, postmodernism, postcolonialism and feminism, on the other. In a similar vein I am interested in a dialogue between Class struggle on the one hand and New Social Movements (NSM) on the other.

Research:

1. From 1984 Research Scholar for Ph.D. at CSSSC for 1 year. Topic: Naxalite Theory.
2. Doctoral Teacher Fellow of ICSSR (1988 –1991). Topic: Maoism in West Bengal.
3. Ph.D. awarded in 1996 (University of Calcutta; Supervisor: Dr. Partha Chatterjee).
4. Minor Research Project of UGC (2008-2010) on Derrida’s Deconstruction.

Teaching:

1. From 1985 for nearly 2 years Guest Lecturer in Kalyani University.
2. During 1985-2012, taught Political Science in Scottish Church College (Calcutta University).
3. During 2010- 2012, Guest Lecturer in Philosophy, Calcutta University.
4. From 2010-2014  Guest Lecturer in Political Science, Calcutta University.
5. Joined Presidency University in June 2012.

• GENERALLY, Naxalite movement, poststructuralism, Derridean Deconstruction, postcolonialism.

• SPECIFICALLY,
  • (a) critique of Naxalism in the perspectives of New Theories like subaltern studies, postcolonialism, poststructuralism, Deconstruction, Gramsci, Colonial  Modernity, 
•  
  • (b) critique of Naxalism in the perspectives of New Social Issues such as caste, tribe,human rights,ecology,gender,migration,stateless citizens,political society,civil society, child labour, migrants, LGBT,   etc.

• At present , I am authoring a book entitled, Derrida's Deconstruction: Political Implications, on the basis of my already finished Minor Research Project of the UGC.

• Western Political Thought 
• Marxism and neo-Marxism 
• Socialism: Theory and Practice 
• Post-Structuralism 
• Postcolonialism

• I supervised a Ph.D. research (University of Calcutta) on ‘Charu Majumder, the Naxalite Leader: the Role of the Individual in History – A Critical Evaluation’. PhD was awarded in 2018. Now I supervise four Ph.D. researches (Presidency University) - one on 'Postcolonial Critique of Naxalism' , one on 'Policy towards Care Labourer' , one on 'Political Orientation of Working Women' and other on ' Agonistic Pluralism: A  Critical Study of Laclau '.

• I am interested to supervise research on Naxalism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, Gramscian Marxism, Colonial Modernity, and Leftist movements in India etc.

• I am the Founder & former Chief Editor, Journal of Humanities and Social  Sciences, ISSN 0973-8738, a refereed academic journal (Estd.2003) annually published by the Scottish Church College [University of Calcutta]; after joining Presidency University, I continue as the Founder-Editor of this journal. Its Advisory Board includes: Amartya Sen, Ashis Nandy, Partha Chatterjee, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Amiya Bagchi, Shefali Moitra, Manas Ray, Alok Ray, Ramkrishna Bhattacharya, Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri, Sobhanlal Datta Gupta,Suranjan Das, Dipak Das.

• I was the Founder-Convenor of SAMAJ-O-CHINTA, an academic seminar society of Kolkata which conducted monthly seminars in Bangla from 1991 to 2006.

                                                  PUBLISHED BOOKS

• A.      AUTHORED BOOKS

1. Naxalbari-r Purbakshan: Kichhu Postmodern Bhabna (Kolkata: Progressive Publishers), 1998 (Bengali).ISBN 81-86383-59-X ; Reprint 2012.

2. Towards Naxalbari (1953 -- 1967) (Kolkata: Progressive Publishers), 2000. ISBN 81-86383-76-X; Reprint 2012.

3. Uttar Adhunik Rajniti O Marxbad (Kolkata: Pustak Bipani), 2005 (Bengali). ISBN 81-85471-95-9

4. Postmodernism, Marxism, Postcolonialism (Kalna: Avenel Press), 2010. ISBN 81-902529-6-8

5. Uttar Adhunik Rajniti (Kolkata: Sahityalok), 2010 (Bengali). ISBN 81-86946-23-3

• B.       EDITED BOOKS

1.  (Ed.) Discourses on Naxalite Movement (1967-2009) (Kolkata: Setu Prakashani), 2010 [consists of 33 original research papers contributed by foreign and Indian scholars]. ISBN 978-93-80677-00-2. 
2. (Ed.) Avenel Companion to Modern Social Theorists (Avenel) 2011[consists of 26 original research papers contributed by foreign and Indian scholars]. ISBN 978-93-80761-14-5.
3. (Ed.) Colonial Modernity: Indian Perspectives (Setu) 2011[16 papers by foreign and Indian scholars]. ISBN 978-93-80677-13-2​
4. ​(Ed.) Red on Silver:Naxalites in Cinema (Setu) 2012 [27 papers by foreign and Indian scholars]. ISBN 978-93-80677-22-4​
5. (Ed.) Modern Social Thinkers (Setu) 2012 [20 papers by foreign and Indian scholars]. ISBN 978-93-80677-26-2​
6. (Ed.) Monone Srijone Naxalbari (Setu) 2012 (Bengali) [20 papers by Bengali scholars].ISBN 978-93-80677-32-3
7. (Ed.) Political Sociology, Setu Prakashani, Kolkata & New Delhi, 2015.
8. (Ed.) Social Theorists of Modern Times, Setu Prakashani, Kolkata & New Delhi, 2015.
9. (Ed.)  Naxalite Politics: Poststructuralist, Postcolonial and Subaltern Perspectives, Setu Prakashani, Kolkata, 2017.  ISBN 978-93-80677-23-1 

• C.       TRANSLATION OF EDITED BOOK

1. Naxalbari Theke Lalgarh: Ekti Bohumatrik Critique (Setu) 2013 (Bengali translation of 14 articles from the book, Discourses on Naxalite Movement (1967-2009) .ISBN 978-93-80677-49-1 

• Published Articles and Chapters (selected):  

1. ‘Prelude to Postcolonial Awareness: Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya’s ‘Swaraj in Ideas’ in Bakshi, S. Sengupta, S. Paul (ed.), Anxieties, Influences and After: Critical Responses to Postcolonialism and Neo-Colonialism, Worldview, New Delhi, 2008.
2. Occasional Paper: ‘Governance & Naxalism’ published by the Department of Political Science,University of Calcutta,UGC,DRS(Phase II),2012.
3. ‘Bentham’s Utilitarian Ethics: Postmodern Review’ in M. Jahan & P. Bhattacharya (ed.), Some Essays on Utilitarianism, published by the Department of Philosophy, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, 2012. 
4. 'Greek Political Thought: Some Postmodern Observations' in Alochona Chakra, 34 (January 2013), [in Bengali].
5. 'Swami Vivekananda: Spiritual Nationalism and Doctrine of  the State' [in Bengali] in Bharatiya Rashtra Chinta Parichay edited by Ashok Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Kolkata: Paschimbanga Rajya Pustak Parshat, October 2013.
6. 'Postmodernism and Political Sociology' in P. Basu (Ed.) Political Sociology, Setu Prakashani, Kolkata & New Delhi, 2016.
7. 'Foucault's Prison Principles and the Colonial Indian Prison System' in K. Jaishankar, T. Mukherjee, P. Bharadwaj, M. Desai Asher (Ed), Indian Prisons, New Delhi: Atlantic, 2014.
8. 'Naxaliism and Imperialism', Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Revolution.London: Palgrave, 2016.
9. 'Naxalite Movement: From the Perspective of Postcolonial Theory', Socialist Perspective.2018.
10. ' Postcolonial Theory: Some Preliminary Ideas' , Chinho, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 2019  (in Bangla).