New Books in South Asian Studies · New Books Network
J. Barton Scott, "Slandering the Sacred: Blasphemy Law and Religious Affect in Colonial India" (U Chicago Press, 2023)
·30 min·3 clips
Dr. Scott argues that the 1927 colonial law on religious offense addresses the same free speech dilemmas we face today.
As heard by us
Colonial blasphemy law opens onto print culture, secularism, and the modern making of religion.
J. Barton Scott's Slandering the Sacred reads as a study of colonial blasphemy law and the way speech and print became legal problems. It is at its best when it stays close to cheaply printed tracts, pamphlets, and newspapers, and to the argument over how secularism and state…
Why you'd press play
When you want blasphemy law unpacked through colonial India, print culture, and the making of the sacred and profane.
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