Grassroots Post-Modernism: Remaking the Soil of Cultures [Hardcover]

Gustavo Esteva (Author), Madhu Suri Prakash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998 | ISBN-10: 1856495450 | ISBN-13: 978-1856495455

This remarkable book draws its inspiration from what its authors describe as the post-modern epic now unfolding at the grassroots. It portrays the ways in which the world’s social majorities are now escaping from the monoculture of a single global civilization and regenerating their own cultural and natural spaces. In so doing, they are challenging the three sacred cows of modernity--the idea, entrenched in globalization, that there is only one, universally valid way of understanding social reality; the exclusive and general validity of Western-defined notions of human; and the notion of the self-sufficient individual, as opposed to people-in-community, which has grotesquely transformed how we see the human condition. This is quite simply, a book which will transform how one sees the world--North and South.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gustavo Esteva is one of Latin America’s leading critics of the development paradigm and is a key figure in the NGO world.

Madhu Suri Prakash is Professor of Education at Penn State University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Zed Books (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856495450
• ISBN-13: 978-1856495455
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,371,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An introduction to alternative thought on grassroots culture, May 11, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Elimsport, Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grassroots Post-Modernism: Remaking the Soil of Cultures (Hardcover)

Esteva and Prakash provide sources of alternative thought about what is important in and of the world. The book offers evidence of how grassroots cultures in non-western nations are combining people interests with environmental interests to assure a future for their cultures. The book gives support to the idea that technological development is not inevitable, but a choice that may be much easier for non-western nations to make. Additionally, the authors offer food for thought for rural sustainable community development in the U. S.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read, November 2, 2006

By 

T. Fillebeen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grassroots Post-Modernism: Remaking the Soil of Cultures (Paperback)

A must read for individuals that want to understand the new social movements occurring within our times; the writers describe stylistically the rift that is widening on the issue of globalization in our world, and more specifically Mexico. The thesis is that the Zapatista movement is justified, but it goes beyond the normal rhetoric; this book is not meant to be taken as the only source of wisdom on the subject but it does help see beyond our economic goggles. An analysis based on sustainable development, cultural upheaval, and anti-globalization stance. For so long have viewed the world through the confined bifocals of economic language and hearsay, this book allows us to venture beyond certain overdrawn arguments and back to some more personal and basic arguments that we sometimes have forgotten the validity of. I haven't rated the book with five stars, for I believe its usage of language at times to be fairly abusive and pompous.