Another Asia: Rabindranath Tagore and Okakura Tenshin

Another Asia explores the convergence of different notions of Asia through the meeting between Rabindranath Tagore and the Japanese art historian and curator Okakura Tenshin in Calcutta in 1902. Set against a panoramic background of inter-Asian cultural politics, this book will appeal to students and scholars of cultural studies, South Asian postcolonial literature, literary theory, and performance studies, as well as to general readers.

Set against a panoramic background of inter-Asian cultural politics, and drawing on the intersections of the late Meiji period in Japan and the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, Another Asia elaborates on the ideals of Asia catalyzed by the meeting of Rabindranath Tagore and the Japanese art historian and curator Okakura Tenshin in Calcutta in 1902. The book weaves through an intricate tapestry of ideas relating to pan-Asianism, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and friendship, and positions the early modernist tensions of the period within—and against—the specter of a unified Asia that concealed considerable political differences. The book draws on pan-Asian works such as The Ideals of the East and The Awakening of the East, in counterpoint to Tagore's radical Nationalism. The book, offering new insights into the ways in which the Orient travelled within and beyond Asia stimulated by emergent modes of vernacular cosmopolitanism, will appeal to students and scholars of cultural studies, South Asian postcolonial literature, literary theory, and performance studies, as well as general readers.

Rustom Bharucha is an independent writer, director, and cultural critic.