Minority Nationalisms in South Asia

Minority Nationalisms in South Asia

Author: Tanweer Fazal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-18

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1317966465

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South Asia is the theatre of myriad experimentations with nationalisms of various kinds - religious, linguistic, religio-linguistic, composite, plural and exclusivist. In all the region’s major states, officially promulgated nationalism at various times has been fiercely contested by minority groups intent on preserving what they see as the pristine purity of their own cultural inheritance. This volume examines the perspective of minority identities as they negotiate their terms of co-existence, accommodation and adaptation with several other competing identities within the framework of the ‘nation state’ in South Asia. It examines three different kinds of minority articulations – cultural conclaves with real or fictitious attachments to an imaginary homeland, the identity problems of dispersed minorities with no territorial claims and the aspirations of indigenous communities, tribes or ethnicities. The essays in this volume offer a rich menu: the evolution of Naga nationalism, the construction of the territory-less Sylheti identity, the debates over Pashtun nationalism in Pakistan, the evolution of Muslim nationalism in Sri Lanka, the politics of religious minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, the making of minority politics in India, and questions of Islam and nationalism in colonial India. It is an eclectic mix for students of nationalism, politics, modern history and anyone interested in the evolution of South Asia. This book was published as a special issue of South Asian History and Culture.


Ethnicity and Nation-building in South Asia

Ethnicity and Nation-building in South Asia

Author: Urmila Phadnis

Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Limited

Published: 2001-12-14

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13:

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First published in 1989, this widely hailed core text of the dynamics of ethnic identities and movements in the South Asian region is perhaps even more relevant today, as the region faces a resurgence of ethno-nationalist sentiments and the outbreak of new ethnic conflict. Among the features of this thoroughly revised edition are: /-/ - it provides a critical appraisal of various theoretical approaches to the study of ethnicity and nation-building /-/ - delineates the ethnic composition of the South Asian Region/-/ - examines the specific state structures of the countries studied: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives/-/ - discusses various ethnic movements in these countries/-/ - covers the most recent developments in the region


Competing Nationalisms in South Asia

Competing Nationalisms in South Asia

Author: Asghar Ali Engineer

Publisher: Orient Blackswan

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9788125022213

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The essays in this volume bring together a rich and scholarly collection of thought and new work linked by a commitment to the preservation and promotion of secularism and democracy in South Asia. The contributors to this volume come from different disciplines and ideological persuasions political scientists, sociologists, historians, literary critics, and the area specialist. Part I deals with nationalist thought and practice; Part II contains essays that comment and reflect on visions of India as a nation; the concluding part concerns the continuing struggles within India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka over the definition of the nation.


Nationalism and Ethnicity in Southeast Asia

Nationalism and Ethnicity in Southeast Asia

Author: Ingrid Wessel

Publisher: Westview Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13:

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Part 2 of the proceedings of the title conference, held in October 1993 in Berlin. Thirteen papers (six in English, seven in German) discuss topics including: democracy in the Philippines, human rights in Asian political thinking, and women in Southeast Asia. No index. Distributed by Westview. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe

Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe

Author: Volker Kaul

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-02-28

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 3030340988

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This volume assembles renowned scholars to address, for the first time, the relationship between minorities and populism in South Asia and Europe from a critical perspective. Despite the very different and to some extent opposite historical and political trajectories, there is today a convergence on nationalist affirmation and on majoritarian politics between South Asia and Europe. In India, the Hindu majority rebels against wide-ranging minority rights anchored in the Constitution. In Europe, the refugee crisis and Islamic radicalization bring to the forefront the postcolonial legacy. Despite all rhetoric, there are obvious dangers of majoritarianism. Populist parties are divisive, partisan, disregard minority rights, engage in lynching, social division, stigmatization and exclusion, turning minorities into second-class citizens. There is a profound structural connection between minorities and the current rise of populism in India and Europe. But there remains a deep perplexity and also anxiety: Does the presence of minorities necessarily have to trigger majoritarian policies? Are there no solutions to this dilemma? Many observers considered multicultural policies and affirmative action programs in India as a possible model for Europe to adopt in order to achieve greater integration. But eventually they seem to have failed. Why so? Are multiculturalism and the recognition of differences still options today? On the other hand, most scholars in India typically reject the European model of liberal democracy and secularism as impracticable in India and locate the reason for the current malaise in the west. But is liberal democracy really so bad in dealing with pluralism? This volume, collecting a selection of the Reset DOC Venice-Padua-Delhi dialogue series, is going to answer two fundamental questions. First, what precisely is the nexus between minorities and populism in South Asia and Europe? Starting from those case studies, the authors will also draw some general theoretical inferences about the nature of populism. Secondly, given the dangers of populism for minorities, the volume will look for the most adequate and feasible solutions.


Ethnic Subnationalist Insurgencies in South Asia

Ethnic Subnationalist Insurgencies in South Asia

Author: Jugdep S. Chima

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-24

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1317557069

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This book provides a micro-historical analysis of the emergence and contemporary dynamics of recent ethnic sub-nationalist insurgencies in South Asia. Using comparative case studies, it discusses the causes of each insurgency, analyses the trajectory and dynamics of each including attempts at resolution, and highlights the wider theories of ethno-nationalist insurgency and mobilization. Bringing together an international group of contributors, the book covers insurgencies in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. It questions why ethnic sub-nationalist insurgencies occurred at particular points in time and not at others, and explores the comparative trajectories of these movements. The book goes on to discern reappearing patterns of conflict escalation/de-escalation through the method of comparative process-tracing. It argues that while identity is a necessary factor for insurgency, it is not a sufficient one. Instead, ethnic mobilization and insurgency only emerge when it is activated by tension emerging from political competition between ethnic and central state elites. These elite-led dynamics, when combined with favourable socio-economic and political conditions, make the ethnic masses primed to accept the often symbolically-rich appeals from their leaders to mobilize against the central state. Providing an important study on ethno-nationalist insurgencies in South Asia, the book will be of interest to those working in the fields of South Asian Politics, Security Studies and Ethnic Conflict.


Subnational Movements In South Asia

Subnational Movements In South Asia

Author: Subrata Mitra

Publisher: Westview Press

Published: 1996-09-26

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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South Asian politics have been increasingly dominated by ethnic movements seeking control over parts of existing national states, each in the name of their own distinct identity. The leaders of these movements justify their claims by asserting the moral right of their "nation" to its homeland. Although the government usually treats these separatist movements as divisive threats to domestic stability, the movements express their legitimacy with the rhetoric of cultural nationalism. However, this book presents subnationalism not as a culturally specific phenomenon but as a politically convenient self-classification, used as an instrument of identity, mobilization, power, and counter-hegemony by political actors. Drawing on detailed analyses of seven South Asian cases - Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Assam, Tamilnadu, and Sri Lanka - the contributors move beyond sociological and economic explanations of the origin and evolution of South Asian subnationalism to formulate a political explanation based on theories of cultural nationalism and collective action.


Ethnic Minorities and Politics in Southeast Asia

Ethnic Minorities and Politics in Southeast Asia

Author: Thomas Engelbert

Publisher: Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13:

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Southeast Asia is a region of eleven different states, each having many different peoples, languages, cultures and religions. However, general ideas, principles or rules which can encompass any one particular example or one country are nevertheless possible. This constant interplay and interaction between the specific and the general, between the local and the regional, between region and nation, between history and current times, is one of the characteristics of Southeast Asia. In taking this background into consideration it is important to distinguish between rule and exception, to trace down recurrent themes in history according to changing circumstances, and to seek possible ways of smoothing tensions or of solving conflicts. This book includes contributions covering about seven Southeast Asian countries: Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam on the mainland, as well as Singapore and Indonesia on the islands. The contributions deal with all three of the important categories of ethnic minorities: the tribal or indigenous populations, the nationalities who live as majority population in neighbouring states, and the so-called 'Foreign Asians'. Furthermore, general questions such as Nationalitätenpolitik and language politics (Sprachenpolitik) are also addressed.