Khadi: Gandhi's Mega Symbol of Subversion  (English, Hardcover, Gonsalves Peter)

Khadi: Gandhi's Mega Symbol of Subversion investigates the power of a symbol to qualitatively transform society by studying Mahatma Gandhis use of clothing as a metaphor for unity, empowerment and liberation from imperial subjugation.

The book brings together historical evidence of Gandhis search for a semiotics of attire in his quest for personal integrity and socio-political change. From a multidisciplinary perspective, it closely examines the subversion underlying his sartorial communication.

The author also discusses the complex challenges in Gandhis highly polarized environment, such as the conflict between the British Empire and the Indian National Congress, HinduMuslim tensions, the urbanrural divide, and the question of untouchability.

The author examines the symbolic potential for change which khadi has, not merely as revolution or sedition, but as a sustained, well-organised strategy for achieving full independence or purna swaraj.

Photographs, illustrations and an extensive appendix considerably add to the historical value of the study, making it useful for students and scholars in various fields of South Asian research.

About the Author
Peter Gonsalves, PhD, currently teaches the Sciences of Communication at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome.

He began his career in media as a community worker for rural development at the Bosco Gramin Vikas Kendra, Ahmednagar. He founded Tej-prasarini, Mumbai, a multimedia production centre to raise awareness of the urgency of life-based education in South Asia. He promoted a series of teacher-training manuals called Quality Life Education, the first of which was his own work: Exercises in Media Education (1994). Using this, he conducted about 40 all-India courses on media education for schoolteachers, social workers and youth facilitators from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

Dr Gonsalves is a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco, an international society dedicated to the holistic development of young people. He co-ordinated its first five-language web portal at the headquarters in Rome and was simultaneously president of INTERSIG, the international wing of SIGNIS, a world association of communicators for a culture of peace.

His previous work, Clothing for Liberation: A Communication Analysis of Gandhi’s Swadeshi Revolution (SAGE, 2010), is considered ‘the first analysis of Gandhi’s dressing style in terms of communication theory’.