Readings: Gaonkar, "On Alternative Modernities" (article)
Brenner, The Domestication of Desire

Note: While you are responsible for reading the entire Brenner book, pay particular attention to chapters 4, 5, and 7.

1. According to Gaonkar, how might we understand modernity in terms of societal modernization and cultural modernity? What does it mean to think about alternative modernities?

2. What does Brenner mean by the "making of the unmodern" (8)? How is gender related to this?

3. Brenner depicts what she terms the "domestic sphere." What does this mean? How is the domestic sphere gendered? How have recent economic, social, and political changes affected the domestic sphere?

4. What role does wealth play in the community Brenner studied? How do status, morality, and gender relate to wealth?

5. Brenner claims that women domesticate money. How do they do this? With what results?

 

Question for Response Paper #4: Cultural Accounts of Modernity

Gaonkar urges us to consider the ways in which modernity is cultured: "A cultural theory, in contrast, holds that modernity always unfolds within a specific cultural or civilizational context and that different starting points for the transition to modernity lead to different outcomes" (17). How might Brenner comment on this claim? To what extent can her book be seen as depicting one of the alternative cultural modernities described by Gaonkar? What are the strengths and weaknesses of a cultural approach to modernity?

For tips about crafting response papers, click here.

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu