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PANEL 39: Nationalisms and their Impact in South Asia
Panel Organizers:
Dr. James Chiriyankandath - Department of Law, London Metropolitan University, UK
Dr. Pritam Singh - Oxford Brookes University Business School, Oxford, UK
Abstract
In the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries South Asia underwent a far-reaching political, social and cultural metamorphosis as a consequence of the impact of modern nationalism. Inspired by anti-colonial, religious, cultural and ethnic impulses, and shaped by the changing political economy, nationalism resulted in the creation of new states and the recasting of ideas of political community. The purpose of this panel will be to enrich our understanding of the multidimensional impact of nationalism in South Asia through exploring different aspects of the changes that it contributed to. It will be interdisciplinary in its approach, seeking to draw together understandings and insights into nationalism furnished by the application of different perspectives in the social sciences and humanities.
Contributors to the panel are invited to offer papers on a variety of aspects, whether historical or contemporary, of the nationalisms that have emerged in the subcontinent. As well as the diverse currents in the Indian national movement (Gandhian, Nehruvian, Hindutva etc.), pan-Indian in scope but rather different in their emphasis, and the Pakistan movement, this encompasses a multiplicity of ethnically based and regional sub-nationalisms. Papers mapping the differences and similarities in the rise of these competing nationalisms and the responses of the new nation states to the challenges posed by regional sub-nationalisms will be welcome. These could include critical treatment of the application of different theoretical paradigms to the competing nationalisms in South Asia, the exploration of different ideological currents within nationalist movements, comparative studies drawing on regional nationalisms in other parts of the world, consideration of the influence of the process of globalisation on the rise of regional sub-nationalisms in South Asia and intimate studies of the transformation of the lives of individuals. The selection of papers will aim to address the broad impact of nationalism, ranging from the ideology, politics and symbolism of nationalist movements to the reconstitution of individual and communal identity, the problem of minorities, and the implications for the current and future politics and economics of South Asian countries.
Session 1:
James Chiriyankandath, London Metropolitan University (City campus),London, United Kingdom
Imagining Nations, Creating States: Zionism and Indian nationalism
This paper explores the phenomenon of "religious nationalism" with particular reference to the experience of an individual and his community. Just nine months separated the bloody partitions of the Indian subcontinent and Palestine in 1947,48. As the subcontinent was being partitioned by competing nationalisms marked by religion, Zionist efforts bore fruit in the partition of Palestine and the displacement of the Palestinian Arabs. Juxtaposing the two stories illustrates how religion and nationalism served to unravel and transform long held notions of identity, political loyalty and geographical attachment. The paper compares the Zionist and Indian nationalist uses of religious identity as a constitutive factor in nationalism before considering the experience of one community caught up in the cross currents, the Jews of Cochin on the south,western coast of India. It then examines the career of A.B. Salem, an Indian nationalist and Zionist from Cochin. It concludes by highlighting the disruptive consequences of utilising religious identity to underpin modern nationalism and the need to rediscover pluralistic and accommodative notions of state and communal identity.
Yaqoob Khan Bangash, Keble College, Faculty of Modern History, Oxford, UK
The Awakening of Baloch Nationalism 1933,48
Balochistan has recently become the toughest internal challenge for the federal government of Pakistan. The current insurgency in the province, however, is of a very old birth having been launched at least three times in the past. This sixty year old conflict can be very easily traced back to 1933 and the assumption of full ruling powers by Mir Ahmed Yar Khan as the Khan of Kalat-the most important princely state in Balochistan. Ahmed Yar Khan was a young, educated and dynamic ruler, who unlike his predecessors, had the vision of transforming Kalat into what he termed as âGreater Balochistan'-a country comprising of parts of the British Empire, Iran and Afghanistan. This vision and the British induced modernization of this tribal area led to the creation of a political movement very aware and proud of its strategic position and tribal traditions. This movement soon gave birth to organized political parties which were peculiar in their tribal allegiances and leftist and secularist ideology in this very conservative and religious society. Increasingly vocal and powerful, the politicians of Kalat managed to attain a measure of self government just a few months after the British Transfer of Power and the declaration of Independence by Kalat. Very nationalistic and suspicious of any foreign influence, these Balochis were the bulwark that kept Kalat from acceding to Pakistan well into 1948, and then too only after a clear threat of military action.
With the above as historical background this paper will trace the early development of the Baloch national movement. Taking the person of Ahmed Yar Khan as critical in the formation of pan,Baloch identity and notions of self rule, the paper will study the motives and strategy behind the creation of the Kalat State National Party (the first political organisation of its kind) in September 1937 under the patronage of several important tribal leaders. The paper will also delve into the comparative study as to why religious nationalism failed to develop in Balochistan, as well as the NWFP, as compared to the other regions where Muslims were in a majority especially when the former regions were among the most conservative religiously. The rapid social change and interaction with foreigners, the recognition of its importance viz. the Soviet Union and Iran, and the forceful assertion that Baloch were ânon,Indian' will form major themes in the paper. The paper will conclude with an assessment of the first Baloch insurgency in 1948, led by the princes' brother, especially focusing on questions on national identity, national grievances and self government among Baloch nationalists together with its immediate and long term impact on stability and national cohesion in nascent state of Pakistan.
Roland Kulke, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
The Indian Controversy on the History Schoolbooks: Civil,Society, a New Hegemonic Ideology and âPathological' Learning Processes Concerning Deliberations in the Public Sphere
Hindutva can be understood as an attempt to re,establish a commonly accepted idea for what ´India´ stands for, after the declining hegemonic position of Nehruvian nationalism. It is no longer possible to accuse the Sangh Parivar of âfascism'. It is time to analyse the positive possibilities which lie in a movement which had proved that it can integrate large parts of the (Hindu,) population of India , comparable to European Christian parties in the 19th century which integrated vast parts of the people in the process of modernisation who did not accept the offer of class based politics.
Not only is the imposition of the new âgrand national narrative' important, but the way in which this happens has to be examined because periods of intense âideological warfare' are times in which long lasting social learning processes take place.
This question I pose in my paper in which I examine the way in which different civil,society organisations, parties and parts of the public administration are engaged in a battle concerning the question what kind of Nationalism should be taught to the children in school.
Arguments:
1. The textbook controversy is part of the wider struggle between secular and Hindu,nationalistic forces for cultural and political hegemony in India.
2. The struggle of intellectuals belonging to different social groupings for the establishment of their paradigm (how to perceive the Indian nation) as hegemonic leads to conflicts in the public administration. With the help of established research and academic institutions, they try to establish (respectively preserve) a lasting institutionalisation of âtheir' paradigm.
3. The toughness of the mutual contestation amongst leading intellectuals of the Indian elite is a threat to the emergence of an autonomous civil society with a working public sphere.
4. However the Textbook Controversy also reveals certain similarities of Hindu national and Secular leftist perceptions in regard to the threats against the Indian culture.
5. The Textbook Controversy reveals a deficit of the Indian civil society in terms of the emergence of a coherent self,perception. One has to admit that there is up to now no space where citizens deliberate upon common objectives outside the sphere of state,power.
Session 2
Dibyesh Anand, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
Lethal stereotypes: Hindu Nationalism in India and its enemies
For movements that can be classed as politically Right, a hagiography of the Self is based upon the representations of Other as threatening. The Hindutva in India is no exception. Its claims of representing a Hindu nation, while at the same time acting to construct a coherent Hindu nation, has at its core a conception of threatening Others. These Others are the two numerically significant minority communities in India - the Muslims and the Christians. As the developments throughout the last century in general, and 1990 onward in particular, show, the figure central to the imagination of Hindutva is âthe Muslim' - a version of Muslim masculinity deriving its danger from a mix of stereotypes of religion (Islam), history (a violent history), physicality (virile), and culture (backward, corrupt and immoral). The paper argues that it is particular stereotypical representations of âthe Muslim' that helps us make sense of how extreme collective violence against Muslims is normalised, underplayed, and legitimised in the collective imaginary of many Hindutva followers. My argument is not that cultural representations of the minorities directly contribute to their killing, but that these representations facilitate particular forms of violence (such as the extreme use of sexual violence), mask instrumentalist aspects of violence, and often allow the business,as,usual attitude for many within the majority community of Hindus in India. The victims (in most case minorities) are cast as the instigators, while the Hindu Self comes out as tolerant. The paper examines the lethality of stereotypes through the site of anti,Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002. It foregrounds gender politics as central to understanding violence against minorities. Rather than focusing on the role of women as victims as well as perpetrators of violence, the paper brings into relief the role of men and competing masculinities.
Raminder Kaur, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
Bordering the Impossible:The Crisis of identity and nationalist utopias in contemporary India cinema
This paper investigates the resurgence of nationalist imagery through a consideration of Indian popular cinema from the 1990s. It does so in a context of heightened antagonism with Pakistan, the prominence of nuclear armament, the rising popularity of Hindu nationalism and the effects of validating once's national status against cross,currents of globalisation. The legacy of Partition and the unresolved issue of Kashmir also continue to raise their heads in this turbulent mixture. Whilst attention has been focused upon the romance movies of the 1990s (Dwyer, Uberoi), the rise of âwar/battle movies' in this decade has received little scholarly commentary.
By considering films such as Border, Mission Kashmir, Terrorist, and Kohram (Chaos), I highlight the factors that have led to the prominence of such movies. Demonisation of Pakistan, extolling the virtues of brave Indian soldiers (jawans), the sacralisation of Indian national territory and populations (âthe common man'), and their implications for romance and family values are some of the features that characterise these movies. Claims for coherency in representations become more pronounced at times of worldly crisis. As Kobena Mercer argues, âIdentity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis, when something assumed to be fixed, coherent and stable is displaced by the experience of doubt and uncertainty'. I look at what strategies are deployed to mitigate âdoubts and uncertainties' in the imagistic quest of such films for what might be deemed the impossible - fixity, coherency, and national integrity.
Pritam Singh, Oxford Brookes University Business School, Oxford, United Kingdom
The political economy of conflict between centrist Indian nationalism and the state,based regional nationalisms
This paper argues that in the shaping of the Indian political economy and the Indian nationhood in the post,1947 period, the conflict between the Centre,supported unified Indian nationalism and the aspirations of state, based regional nationalisms for decentralisation/autonomy/secession has played a key role. This conflict between unitarist Indian nationalism and diverse regional nationalisms is analysed in the context of tendencies towards centralisation and decentralisation in India. The paper examines the political economy of the conflict between centralising and decentralising tendencies in India.
The paper takes a historical perspective in examining this conflict. Though the pre,1947 political and economic forces are taken into account, the focus of the paper is on the post,1947 period. The paper concludes by examining the likely consequences of the neo,liberal policies pursued by the Indian government from 1991 on the tendencies towards centralisation and decentralisation. The likely impact of the 1991 policy paradigm on the relationship between the unitarist Indian nationalism and multiple state,based regional nationalism is briefly explored by way of an attempt to monitor the current and possible future scenarios for contesting nationalisms in India.
Home
PANEL 39: Nationalisms and their Impact in South Asia
Panel Organizers:
Dr. James Chiriyankandath - Department of Law, London Metropolitan University, UK
Dr. Pritam Singh - Oxford Brookes University Business School, Oxford, UK
Abstract
In the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries South Asia underwent a far-reaching political, social and cultural metamorphosis as a consequence of the impact of modern nationalism. Inspired by anti-colonial, religious, cultural and ethnic impulses, and shaped by the changing political economy, nationalism resulted in the creation of new states and the recasting of ideas of political community. The purpose of this panel will be to enrich our understanding of the multidimensional impact of nationalism in South Asia through exploring different aspects of the changes that it contributed to. It will be interdisciplinary in its approach, seeking to draw together understandings and insights into nationalism furnished by the application of different perspectives in the social sciences and humanities.
Contributors to the panel are invited to offer papers on a variety of aspects, whether historical or contemporary, of the nationalisms that have emerged in the subcontinent. As well as the diverse currents in the Indian national movement (Gandhian, Nehruvian, Hindutva etc.), pan-Indian in scope but rather different in their emphasis, and the Pakistan movement, this encompasses a multiplicity of ethnically based and regional sub-nationalisms. Papers mapping the differences and similarities in the rise of these competing nationalisms and the responses of the new nation states to the challenges posed by regional sub-nationalisms will be welcome. These could include critical treatment of the application of different theoretical paradigms to the competing nationalisms in South Asia, the exploration of different ideological currents within nationalist movements, comparative studies drawing on regional nationalisms in other parts of the world, consideration of the influence of the process of globalisation on the rise of regional sub-nationalisms in South Asia and intimate studies of the transformation of the lives of individuals. The selection of papers will aim to address the broad impact of nationalism, ranging from the ideology, politics and symbolism of nationalist movements to the reconstitution of individual and communal identity, the problem of minorities, and the implications for the current and future politics and economics of South Asian countries.
Session 1:
James Chiriyankandath, London Metropolitan University (City campus),London, United Kingdom
Imagining Nations, Creating States: Zionism and Indian nationalism
This paper explores the phenomenon of "religious nationalism" with particular reference to the experience of an individual and his community. Just nine months separated the bloody partitions of the Indian subcontinent and Palestine in 1947,48. As the subcontinent was being partitioned by competing nationalisms marked by religion, Zionist efforts bore fruit in the partition of Palestine and the displacement of the Palestinian Arabs. Juxtaposing the two stories illustrates how religion and nationalism served to unravel and transform long held notions of identity, political loyalty and geographical attachment. The paper compares the Zionist and Indian nationalist uses of religious identity as a constitutive factor in nationalism before considering the experience of one community caught up in the cross currents, the Jews of Cochin on the south,western coast of India. It then examines the career of A.B. Salem, an Indian nationalist and Zionist from Cochin. It concludes by highlighting the disruptive consequences of utilising religious identity to underpin modern nationalism and the need to rediscover pluralistic and accommodative notions of state and communal identity.
Yaqoob Khan Bangash, Keble College, Faculty of Modern History, Oxford, UK
The Awakening of Baloch Nationalism 1933,48
Balochistan has recently become the toughest internal challenge for the federal government of Pakistan. The current insurgency in the province, however, is of a very old birth having been launched at least three times in the past. This sixty year old conflict can be very easily traced back to 1933 and the assumption of full ruling powers by Mir Ahmed Yar Khan as the Khan of Kalat-the most important princely state in Balochistan. Ahmed Yar Khan was a young, educated and dynamic ruler, who unlike his predecessors, had the vision of transforming Kalat into what he termed as âGreater Balochistan'-a country comprising of parts of the British Empire, Iran and Afghanistan. This vision and the British induced modernization of this tribal area led to the creation of a political movement very aware and proud of its strategic position and tribal traditions. This movement soon gave birth to organized political parties which were peculiar in their tribal allegiances and leftist and secularist ideology in this very conservative and religious society. Increasingly vocal and powerful, the politicians of Kalat managed to attain a measure of self government just a few months after the British Transfer of Power and the declaration of Independence by Kalat. Very nationalistic and suspicious of any foreign influence, these Balochis were the bulwark that kept Kalat from acceding to Pakistan well into 1948, and then too only after a clear threat of military action.
With the above as historical background this paper will trace the early development of the Baloch national movement. Taking the person of Ahmed Yar Khan as critical in the formation of pan,Baloch identity and notions of self rule, the paper will study the motives and strategy behind the creation of the Kalat State National Party (the first political organisation of its kind) in September 1937 under the patronage of several important tribal leaders. The paper will also delve into the comparative study as to why religious nationalism failed to develop in Balochistan, as well as the NWFP, as compared to the other regions where Muslims were in a majority especially when the former regions were among the most conservative religiously. The rapid social change and interaction with foreigners, the recognition of its importance viz. the Soviet Union and Iran, and the forceful assertion that Baloch were ânon,Indian' will form major themes in the paper. The paper will conclude with an assessment of the first Baloch insurgency in 1948, led by the princes' brother, especially focusing on questions on national identity, national grievances and self government among Baloch nationalists together with its immediate and long term impact on stability and national cohesion in nascent state of Pakistan.
Roland Kulke, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
The Indian Controversy on the History Schoolbooks: Civil,Society, a New Hegemonic Ideology and âPathological' Learning Processes Concerning Deliberations in the Public Sphere
Hindutva can be understood as an attempt to re,establish a commonly accepted idea for what ´India´ stands for, after the declining hegemonic position of Nehruvian nationalism. It is no longer possible to accuse the Sangh Parivar of âfascism'. It is time to analyse the positive possibilities which lie in a movement which had proved that it can integrate large parts of the (Hindu,) population of India , comparable to European Christian parties in the 19th century which integrated vast parts of the people in the process of modernisation who did not accept the offer of class based politics.
Not only is the imposition of the new âgrand national narrative' important, but the way in which this happens has to be examined because periods of intense âideological warfare' are times in which long lasting social learning processes take place.
This question I pose in my paper in which I examine the way in which different civil,society organisations, parties and parts of the public administration are engaged in a battle concerning the question what kind of Nationalism should be taught to the children in school.
Arguments:
1. The textbook controversy is part of the wider struggle between secular and Hindu,nationalistic forces for cultural and political hegemony in India.
2. The struggle of intellectuals belonging to different social groupings for the establishment of their paradigm (how to perceive the Indian nation) as hegemonic leads to conflicts in the public administration. With the help of established research and academic institutions, they try to establish (respectively preserve) a lasting institutionalisation of âtheir' paradigm.
3. The toughness of the mutual contestation amongst leading intellectuals of the Indian elite is a threat to the emergence of an autonomous civil society with a working public sphere.
4. However the Textbook Controversy also reveals certain similarities of Hindu national and Secular leftist perceptions in regard to the threats against the Indian culture.
5. The Textbook Controversy reveals a deficit of the Indian civil society in terms of the emergence of a coherent self,perception. One has to admit that there is up to now no space where citizens deliberate upon common objectives outside the sphere of state,power.
Session 2
Dibyesh Anand, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
Lethal stereotypes: Hindu Nationalism in India and its enemies
For movements that can be classed as politically Right, a hagiography of the Self is based upon the representations of Other as threatening. The Hindutva in India is no exception. Its claims of representing a Hindu nation, while at the same time acting to construct a coherent Hindu nation, has at its core a conception of threatening Others. These Others are the two numerically significant minority communities in India - the Muslims and the Christians. As the developments throughout the last century in general, and 1990 onward in particular, show, the figure central to the imagination of Hindutva is âthe Muslim' - a version of Muslim masculinity deriving its danger from a mix of stereotypes of religion (Islam), history (a violent history), physicality (virile), and culture (backward, corrupt and immoral). The paper argues that it is particular stereotypical representations of âthe Muslim' that helps us make sense of how extreme collective violence against Muslims is normalised, underplayed, and legitimised in the collective imaginary of many Hindutva followers. My argument is not that cultural representations of the minorities directly contribute to their killing, but that these representations facilitate particular forms of violence (such as the extreme use of sexual violence), mask instrumentalist aspects of violence, and often allow the business,as,usual attitude for many within the majority community of Hindus in India. The victims (in most case minorities) are cast as the instigators, while the Hindu Self comes out as tolerant. The paper examines the lethality of stereotypes through the site of anti,Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002. It foregrounds gender politics as central to understanding violence against minorities. Rather than focusing on the role of women as victims as well as perpetrators of violence, the paper brings into relief the role of men and competing masculinities.
Raminder Kaur, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
Bordering the Impossible:The Crisis of identity and nationalist utopias in contemporary India cinema
This paper investigates the resurgence of nationalist imagery through a consideration of Indian popular cinema from the 1990s. It does so in a context of heightened antagonism with Pakistan, the prominence of nuclear armament, the rising popularity of Hindu nationalism and the effects of validating once's national status against cross,currents of globalisation. The legacy of Partition and the unresolved issue of Kashmir also continue to raise their heads in this turbulent mixture. Whilst attention has been focused upon the romance movies of the 1990s (Dwyer, Uberoi), the rise of âwar/battle movies' in this decade has received little scholarly commentary.
By considering films such as Border, Mission Kashmir, Terrorist, and Kohram (Chaos), I highlight the factors that have led to the prominence of such movies. Demonisation of Pakistan, extolling the virtues of brave Indian soldiers (jawans), the sacralisation of Indian national territory and populations (âthe common man'), and their implications for romance and family values are some of the features that characterise these movies. Claims for coherency in representations become more pronounced at times of worldly crisis. As Kobena Mercer argues, âIdentity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis, when something assumed to be fixed, coherent and stable is displaced by the experience of doubt and uncertainty'. I look at what strategies are deployed to mitigate âdoubts and uncertainties' in the imagistic quest of such films for what might be deemed the impossible - fixity, coherency, and national integrity.
Pritam Singh, Oxford Brookes University Business School, Oxford, United Kingdom
The political economy of conflict between centrist Indian nationalism and the state,based regional nationalisms
This paper argues that in the shaping of the Indian political economy and the Indian nationhood in the post,1947 period, the conflict between the Centre,supported unified Indian nationalism and the aspirations of state, based regional nationalisms for decentralisation/autonomy/secession has played a key role. This conflict between unitarist Indian nationalism and diverse regional nationalisms is analysed in the context of tendencies towards centralisation and decentralisation in India. The paper examines the political economy of the conflict between centralising and decentralising tendencies in India.
The paper takes a historical perspective in examining this conflict. Though the pre,1947 political and economic forces are taken into account, the focus of the paper is on the post,1947 period. The paper concludes by examining the likely consequences of the neo,liberal policies pursued by the Indian government from 1991 on the tendencies towards centralisation and decentralisation. The likely impact of the 1991 policy paradigm on the relationship between the unitarist Indian nationalism and multiple state,based regional nationalism is briefly explored by way of an attempt to monitor the current and possible future scenarios for contesting nationalisms in India.