Geoffrey Ostergaard

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Geoffrey Ostergaard
Born
Geoffrey Nielsen Ostergaard

(1926-07-25)25 July 1926
Near
Huntingdon Grammar School; Peterhouse, Cambridge; Nuffield College, Oxford
Alma materNuffield College, Oxford
ThesisPublic Ownership in Great Britain: A Study in the Development of Socialist Ideas (1953)
Doctoral advisorG. D. H. Cole
Academic work
DisciplinePolitical science
InstitutionsUniversity of Birmingham
Notable worksLatter-day Anarchism: The Politics of the American Beat Generation (1964), The Gentle Anarchists: A Study of the Sarvodaya Movement for Non-Violent Revolution in India (1971), Nonviolent Revolution in India (1985)

Geoffrey Nielsen Ostergaard (25 July 1926 – 22 March 1990)

political scientist best known for his work on the connections between Gandhism and anarchism, on the British co-operative movement, and on syndicalism and workers' control.[2][3] His books included The Gentle Anarchists: A Study of the Sarvodaya Movement for Non-Violent Revolution in India (1971), coauthored with Melville Currell, and Nonviolent Revolution in India (1985), both dealing with the Sarvodaya movement. He spent the majority of his academic career at the University of Birmingham
.

Early life

Geoffrey Nielsen Ostergaard was born on 25 July 1926 near

Second World War after reading Herbert Read's Poetry and Anarchism.[2]

Work and career

Overview

Ostergaard taught and conducted research at the

student revolts of the 1960s and for David Selbourne in his conflict with Ruskin College.[3]

Ostergaard regularly contributed to anarchist and pacifist periodicals, sometimes publishing under the name Gaston Gerard (an anagram of G. N. Ostergaard), and was a trustee of

David Thoreau Wieck, Dorothy Day, and Paul Goodman.[5] Drawing on Gandhism, he argued that nonviolence offered a way to reconcile political principles with tactics and to envision of a society without organized coercion.[6]

Early career

Ostergaard pursued doctoral studies under G. D. H. Cole at the Nuffield College, Oxford, completing a thesis entitled Public Ownership in Great Britain: A Study in the Development of Socialist Ideas in 1953.[1]

In the 1950s Ostergaard published a series of articles on the

eschatological or apocalyptic, rather than utopian, outlook, and the practice of Zen, which he described as "an intensely personal, subjective religion".[7]

Work on the Sarvodaya movement

Ostergaard was a lifelong

Mohandas Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan in terms of anarchism.[3]

The Gentle Anarchists: A Study of the Sarvodaya Movement for Non-Violent Revolution in India (1971), coauthored with Melville Currell, is a comprehensive study of the

representative government, belief in decentralization and a synthesis of freedom and equality, emphasis on local communities, and support for direct action.[8] The bulk of the book is based on the findings from a survey of the movement's leaders, inquiring into their backgrounds, motivations, political beliefs and attitudes.[9] Reviewing the book in the India Quarterly, Usha Mehta wrote that it evinced "the authors' deep understanding of Indian society and people and of their sympathy for the Sarvodaya movement."[10] In his review for The Journal of Asian Studies, Anthony Parel described The Gentle Anarchists as "a most welcome addition to the literature of modern Indian politics in general and to Gandhian politics in particular".[11] In a review in the Journal of Asian and African Studies, Frank F. Conlon questioned Ostergaard and Currell's methodology but identified the book as "an important first step" that would "reveal much about the condition of sarvodaya in contemporary India and ... stimulate further historical and sociological lines of enquiry."[9] Marvin Dicker, reviewing in Social Forces, similarly questioned Ostergaard and Currell's methodology and noted their sympathy for the movement as a further weakness, but described the book as "a valuable contribution to the literature on social movements."[12]

The Gentle Anarchists was followed by Nonviolent Revolution in India (1985).

Robert Graham wrote that "Ostergaard has provided a great service to all those interested in nonviolent social revolution by writing such a thorough and thoughtful analysis", but argued the book fails to provide sufficient background on Indian politics and political groupings.[18]

Personal life

Ostergaard married Eva Dryden in 1948.[1] He and Eva spent several years living in India while he researched and wrote about Gandhism.[3] They had a son, Magnus.[1]

Death and legacy

Ostergaard died of

leukaemia in Birmingham on 22 March 1990.[3][4] His papers are held at the University of Bradford Library.[19]

See also

List of works

  • Latter-day Anarchism: The Politics of the American Beat Generation (1964)
  • Power in Co-operatives: A Study of the Internal Politics of British Retail Societies (1965), coauthored with A. H. Halsey
  • The Gentle Anarchists: A Study of the Sarvodaya Movement for Non-Violent Revolution in India (1971), coauthored with Melville Currell
  • Nonviolent Revolution in India (1985)
  • Resisting the Nation State: The Pacifist and Anarchist Tradition (1985)
  • The Tradition of Workers' Control: Selected Writings by Geoffrey Ostergaard (1997)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Bamford, Brian (1997). "Geoffrey Ostergaard: The Official Life". The Tradition of Workers' Control: Selected Writings. By Ostergaard, Geoffrey. Bamford, Brian (ed.). Freedom Press. p. 7.
  2. ^
    Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward. Liverpool University Press
    . p. 210.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ward, Colin (28 March 1990). "Obituary: Geoffrey Ostergaard – Anarchism Via Gandhi". The Guardian. p. 47.
  4. ^ a b Bamford 1997, p. 8.
  5. S2CID 161935227
    .
  6. ^ Pauli 2015, p. 65.
  7. ^ Van Dyke, Michael T. (2009). "Kenneth Rexroth's Integrative Vision: Anarchism, Poetry and the Religious Experience in Post-World War II San Francisco". In Christoyannopoulos, Alexandre J. M. E. (ed.). Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives. Cambridge Scholars Press. p. 239.
  8. ^ Clark, John P. (2013). The Impossible Community: Realizing Communitarian Anarchism. Bloomsbury. p. 221.
  9. ^
    doi:10.1163/156852175X00145
    .
  10. S2CID 151044376
    .
  11. JSTOR 2052707
    .
  12. doi:10.1093/sf/50.4.549
    .
  13. doi:10.1080/00358538708453846
    .
  14. ^ Copley 1987, p. 532.
  15. Graham, Robert (1988). "Review of Nonviolent Revolution in India by Geoffrey Ostergaard" (PDF). Our Generation
    . 19 (2): 117B.
  16. ^ Graham 1988, p. 121B.
  17. ^ Copley 1987, p. 531.
  18. ^ Graham 1988, pp. 122B–123B.
  19. ^ "Papers of Geoffrey Ostergaard". University of Bradford. Retrieved 31 July 2020.

External links

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