Abstract:

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) was an Indian anticolonial activist, lawyer, and politician. Less famously, but no less importantly, Gandhi was also a back-to-the-land farmer, a founder of communes, and a seeker of utopia. This talk tells the story of everyday life at the four residential communities Gandhi founded in South Africa and India, drawing out who lived and worked alongside Gandhi and what their communal values entailed. This focus on Gandhi’s communities provides insight into the evolution of Gandhi’s philosophy of universal wellbeing by exploring how Gandhi tried to enact utopia, hoping with the establishment of each successive community to approach ever closer to his imagined ideal. It also provides insight into how the community members and their communal values were foundational to Gandhi’s political vision and action.

Finally, this focus allows for an exploration of the fine line between inclusion and exclusion, noble sacrifice and undue suffering, and utopia and dystopia at Gandhi’s communities.

Short Bio:

Karline McLain received her bachelor of arts degree in religious studies from The University of Iowa and her master of arts degree and doctoral degree in Asian cultures and languages from The University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a professor of religious studies at Bucknell University, where she teaches courses on the religions of South Asia. Her scholarship focuses on religion and culture in colonial and postcolonial India. She is the author of India’s Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes (Indiana University Press) and The Afterlife of Shirdi Sai Baba: Competing Visions of a Global Saint (University of Washington Press). She is currently completing a book about the intentional communities founded by Mahatma Gandhi in India and South Africa.