This book reconceptualises the idea of communalism in independent India. Using conceptual tools and an interdisciplinary approach, it challenges the conventional understanding of communalism as time and context independent. The second edition includes a Foreword by Romila Thapar and an Afterword by Dipesh Chakrabarty, along with a new Introduction.
This book reconceptualises the idea of communalism in independent India. It locates the changing contours of politics and religion in the country from the colonial times to the present day, and makes an important intervention in understanding the relationship between communalism and communal violence. It evaluates the role of state, media, civil societies, political parties, and other actors in the process as well as ideas such as secularism, nationalism, minority rights and democracy. Using new conceptual tools and an interdisciplinary approach, the work challenges the conventional understanding of communalism as time and context independent. This second edition includes a Foreword by Romila Thapar and an Afterword by Dipesh Chakrabarty, along with a new Introduction which revaluate the trajectory of communal politics in contemporary India, and question how secularism has come to be understood today. This topical volume will be useful to scholars and researchers in South Asian politics, political science, history, sociology and social anthropology, as well as the interested general reader.
This book engages with critical issues which create a proper understanding of how identities and belonging are imagined and constructed in postcolonial India. The contributors have examined various texts and movies to discuss the implicit communal nature of postcolonial India. The book attempts to discuss the different ways in which India is badly plagued by communal politics and terrorism, and to offer a cogent alternative for creating a strong solidarity among different communities in India.
This book reconceptualises the idea of communalism in independent India. It locates the changing contours of politics and religion in the country from the colonial times to the present day, and makes an important intervention in understanding the relationship between communalism and communal violence. It evaluates the role of state, media, civil societies, political parties, and other actors in the process as well as ideas such as secularism, nationalism, minority rights and democracy. Using new conceptual tools and an interdisciplinary approach, the work challenges the conventional understanding of communalism as time and context independent. This second edition includes a Foreword by Romila Thapar and an Afterword by Dipesh Chakrabarty, along with a new Introduction which revaluate the trajectory of communal politics in contemporary India, and question how secularism has come to be understood today. This topical volume will be useful to scholars and researchers in South Asian politics, political science, history, sociology and social anthropology, as well as the interested general reader.
The writing of history in India has been fraught with controversies. From the storm over textbooks in the 1970s, and the furore over the Babri Masjid in the 1990s, to the flaring up of religious sentiments over 'beef-eating' and the Ram Sethu, this book provides a synoptic view of teaching and writing of history in post-colonial India. Michael Gottlob explores historical research and teaching as important components contributing to the development of a national identity and ideas of citizenship in post-colonial India. He shows how the urge to decolonize and recover the self has given rise to several approaches that attempt to 'reclaim' Indian history from its colonial past. The book discusses diverse areas like methodological research and public use of history; cultural identity and diversity; nationalism and communalism; and social movements and deconstructs their far-reaching implications in contemporary India. It also examines the role of women, Dalits, and Adivasis to understand their position in the multicultural reality of India.
This book surveys and analyses the economic, political and cultural changes which have taken place in India since its Independence. It explores some of the defining moments in the history of post-colonial India, and brings together recent works of scholars of different disciplines to provide dynamic new insights into the half-century since Independence. The effects of decolonisation, modernisation, and industrialisation are given special attention, particularly in relation to the impacts felt by women and minorities both in the country and the city. The colossal effects of state projects on the environment are also considered. An important focus of the papers is examining the discourses of modernity and the state and the effects they have had on shifting notions of identity. India is today faced with a crisis in the attempts made by the government to accommodate global capitalism in a highly traditional society. Papers in this volume underline two aspects of the current crisis; the deeply worrying failure of liberalisation to stem poverty, and the equally dangerous climate of hostility to secularism. However, the work presented here tries to suggest some possible paths away from the predicaments of communalism and mass poverty.
Although India and Pakistan were part of a single state until liberation from British colonial rule in 1947, the former has since emerged as the world's largest "democracy, whereas the latter has been under military control for most of its history. In this thought-provoking volume, Asma Barlas explores the complex and delicate issue of democracy in
Christhu Doss examines how the colonial construct of communalism through the fault lines of the supposed religious neutrality, the hunger for the bread of life, the establishment of exclusive village settlements for the proselytes, the rhetoric of Victorian morality, the booby-traps of modernity, and the subversion of Indian cultural heritage resulted in a radical reorientation of religious allegiance that eventually created a perpetual detachment between proselytes and the “others.” Exploring the trajectories of communalism, Doss demonstrates how the multicultural Indian society, known widely for its composite culture, and secular convictions were categorized, compartmentalized, and communalized by the racialized religious pretensions. A vital read for historians, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and all those who are interested in religions, cultures, identity politics, and decolonization in modern India.
