Rajani Kannepalli Kanth Explained

Rajani Kannepalli Kanth is a professor, economist, philosopher, and social thinker. Though born in India, he is a US citizen and has resided overseas for most of his life. His major research interests lie in the fields of Economics, Social Theory and Policy, and Women's Issues.[1] His works have received positive endorsements from iconic intellectuals such as Ravi Batra, Roy Bhaskar,[2] Noam Chomsky,[3] Geoff Harcourt, Robert Heilbroner,[4] John M. Hobson,[5] Jonathan Joseph, Tony Lawson,[6] [7] Ali Mazrui,[8] John McMurtry, Roger Owen, Warren Samuels, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Paul Sweezy,[9] and Immanuel Wallerstein.[10] He has, across plus-three decades, taught in the areas of Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, History, Economics, and Philosophy. He currently serves as the Trustee of the World Peace Congress that he founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2007.[11] He has also served as an advisor to the United Nations in New York, aside from being on the faculty of major universities around the world.[12]

Life and education

He grew up in Madras, India. He has studied at various institutions in India and overseas, such as St. George's College, Loyola College, the Delhi School of Economics, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research. He holds a bachelor's degree in Economics/Statistics/Politics, a Master's in Sociology, a second Master's in Economics, and a Ph.D. in Economics.

He has been married, and divorced, twice. He has four daughters, two from each marriage, all living in the USA.[13]

The World Peace Congress

He founded the World Peace Congress in Salt Lake City in 2007, holding its first Congress. It has since held two further Congresses – in India, and in Thailand. He continues to serve as its Trustee. A poem of his, set to backdrop music, named Millennium,[14] offers his rationale for launching the World Peace Congress.[15]

Academic career

He commenced his academic career teaching political sociology at the newly inaugurated Jawaharlal Nehru University, after obtaining a master's degree in social anthropology from the Delhi School of Economics, in New Delhi in 1971. In 1974, he attended Columbia University, from which he transferred to the New School for Social Research, New York in 1975. In 1979, he taught as Economics Faculty at the UN International School in New York, and at St. John’s University, as well as serving as a teaching fellow at the New School for Social Research. That same Year he earned his second master's, in economics, whilst also serving as a research associate at Columbia University, following it up with a Ph.D. in economics in 1980. His Ph.D. thesis was published as a book titled Political Economy and Laissez-Faire in 1986. After a stint as economic advisor to the United Nations, at the UNFPA, and also the Centre for Transnational Corporations in New York, between 1979–1981, he returned to the academy, joining the State University of New York, at Purchase, where he taught from 1981–1985. From there on, he went on to accept positions in a multitude of Institutions: Providence College, the University of Utah, Oxford University, UK, the University of Bielefeld, Germany, University of Bremen, Germany, the University of Aarhus (Denmark), the University of New South Wales (Australia), the University of Technology, Australia, Wagner College, New York, the National University of Singapore, Duke University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Tufts University, Loras College, Washington College, Bard College, and Harvard University (where he served as a visiting scholar in Economics in 1998, Fellow in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies 2007–2010, associate of the Department of Anthropology 2010–2011, Fellow in the Department of Anthropology 2011–2014, visiting scholar in English 2014–2015) amongst others. In April–May 2012, he visited Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, as a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies.[16]

Major theories

Rajani Kanth's major philosophical theories include:

a) that Ricardian Economics was merely policy advocacy in theoretical guise,[17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

b) that Economics is the crown jewel of the hegemonic ideology of Modernism,

c) that European Modernism, whose derivates are capitalism and socialism, is the real grey eminence that has crafted the alienated misery of our epoch,[23] [24] [25]

d) that we need to "break with the enlightenment" to escape the modernist cage,[26] [27]

e) that gender struggles far predate class and other struggles, with women's oppression being the original paradigm of power and domination, and define the "degree of civilization" of a societal form,[28]

f) that men and women are distinct sub-species embodying a "paradigm of masculinity" and a "paradigm of femininity", respectively, correlated to violence and nurturance, that are basically instinctual in nature despite their cultural variation,

g) that we are, as hominids, basically tribal beings with clan and family being the surrogates for herd and pack in the animal world, of which we are a part,

h) that all our utopias founder on the rock of masculine drives for domination,

i) that only tribal society based on affective ties has managed to contain the predations of masculine drives within the healing matrix of kinship: and remains our best template of a modest amelioration.[29]

Publications

Academic

Literary

Articles

Major lectures

Reception

"Rajani K. Kanth and Eurocentrism: A Critique" by Nick Hostettler [30]

"A Voyage into America – Discovering the New Wretched of the Earth" by John M. Hobson

"A review of Breaking With The Enlightenment: The Twilight of History and the Rediscovery of Utopia" by Alex Prichard [31]

Awards and honors

He was honored with a Festschrift at the American Economic Association Meetings in Chicago, January 4, 2007.He received a Curriculum Development Award at the University of Utah and a Rural Utah Research Awardon the Status of Utah Women in 1991/92.He won a College Medal at Loyola College.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Wright. Lill. Homemakers Are All Work and No Pay, And U. Economist Says That's Not OK. Salt Lake Tribune. May 3, 1993.
  2. Löwy. Michael. Capitalism and Social Theory: The Science of Black Holes by Rajani Kanth. Science & Society. Winter 1994. 58. 4. 4. 501–503. 40403458.
  3. Book: Chomsky, Noam. Review on Breaking With the Enlightenment by Rajani Kanth. 1997. Humanity Books. 978-1-57392-393-4. Cover Page.
  4. Back Matter. Journal of Economic Literature. Jun 1986. 24. 2. 02. 2726025.
  5. Book: Kanth, Rajani Kannepalli. The Post-Human Society: Elemental Contours of the Aesthetic Economy of the United States. 2013. CreateSpace. Seattle. 978-1-4903-1540-9.
  6. Lawson. Tony. Mathematical Modelling and Ideology in the Economics Academy: competing explanations of the failings of the modern discipline?. Economic Thought. Mar 2012. 22. 7. 24 August 2012.
  7. Lawson. Tony. Critical Issues in Economics as Realist Social Theory. Ekonomia. 1997. 1. 2. 24 August 2012.
  8. Book: Kanth, Rajani Kannepalli. The Challenge of Eurocentrism: Global Perspectives, Policy, and Prospects. 2009. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. 978-0-230-61227-3.
  9. Back Matter. Eastern European Economics. Summer 1992. 30. 4. 04. 94. 4379905.
  10. Web site: Against Eurocentrism. MacMillan. 23 August 2012.
  11. Web site: The Congress of Planetary Initiatives. The World Peace Congress. 25 July 2012.
  12. Web site: Dr. Rajani Kanth, Ph. D. UGSM- Monarch Business School of Switzerland. UGSM- Monarch Business School of Switzerland. 22 July 2012.
  13. Book: Kanth, Rajani. Capitalism and Social Theory. 1992. M.E.Sharpe. New York. 978-1-56324-069-0. Cover.
  14. Web site: The Congress of Planetary Initiatives. The World Peace Congress. 10 July 2012.
  15. Web site: Millennium: World Peace Congress 2008/09. Youtube. 18 May 2013.
  16. Web site: Rajani Kanth CV. Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Study. 24 July 2012.
  17. Web site: Joseph. Jonathan. Realism, Economics and Eurocentrism. 22 August 2012.
  18. Coats. A. W.. Review on Political Economy and Laissez Faire: Economics and Ideology in the Ricardian Era. 4. 1987. The Journal of Economic History. 47. Cambridge. 1077–1078. 10.1017/S0022050700050543.
  19. Sawyer. MalColm C.. Book Notes. 102. 413 . July 1992. The Economic Journal. 1021. 2234621. 10.2307/2234621.
  20. Peach. Terry. Political Economy and Laissez-Faire: Economics and Ideology in the Ricardian Era by Rajani Kannepalli Kanth. The Economic Journal. Sep 1998. 98. 392. 901–902. 2233951. 10.2307/2233951.
  21. Löwy. Michael. Review on Capitalism and Social Theory: The Science of Black Holes by Rajani Kanth. Science & Society. Winter 1994. 58. 4. 4. 501–503. 40403458.
  22. Dugger. William M.. Review on Political Economy and Laissez-Faire: Economics and Ideology in the Ricardian Era by Rajani K. Kanth. Southern Economic Journal. Jul 1987. 54. 1. 01. 240–241. 1058826. 10.2307/1058826.
  23. Jones. Evan. Against Economics by Rajani Kanth. 34. 3. Review of Radical Political Economics. 371–374. 10.1177/048661340203400321.
  24. Nelson. Julie A.. Once More, With Feeling: Feminist Economics and the Ontological Question. Feminist Economics. 9. March 2003. 109–118. 10.1080/13545700110059261.
  25. Devine. James. Review on Breaking with the Enlightenment: The Twilight of History and the Rediscovery of Utopia by Rajani Kannepalli Ranth. Science & Society. Spring 2000. 64. 1. 1. 131–133. 40403831.
  26. Web site: Fleetwood. Steve. Regressive/Progressive.... 22 August 2012.
  27. Book: Rosenstein, Robert. Breaking with the Enlightenment: The Twilight of History and the Rediscovery of Utopia. 978-1-57392-326-2. 1997-05-01.
  28. Book: Ropers, Richard. American Prejudice: With Liberty and Justice for Some. 1995. Insight Books. New York. 978-0-306-44946-8. registration.
  29. Cutrofello. Andrew. The Making and Unmaking of Modernity. Human Studies. Jan 2000. 23. 1. 1. 84. 20011263. 10.1023/a:1005518713615.
  30. Book: Kanth, Rajani. Against Eurocentrism: A Transcendent Critique of Modernist Science, Society and Morals. 2005. Palgrave. London. 1-4039-6737-7. 192.
  31. Web site: Prichard. Alex. Ecofeminist Book of the Month. 12 July 2012.

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