Shattering the ‘looking-glass world’: the Congress for Cultural Freedom in South Asia, 1951–55

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper assesses the thought and philosophy of South Asian intellectuals affiliated to the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF). The CCF’s founders – anti-communist European and American scholars – encouraged allies across several continents to establish magazines and organise conferences warning of the threats posed by ‘totalitarianism’ to free cultural expression. But South Asian members, more interested in postcolonial politics, used its resources to initiate transnational conversations about social change. Probing neglected local CCF magazines and seminar transcripts, the paper also constitutes an early intervention on intersections between the cultural Cold War and decolonisation among non-state actors in the region.