Postmodernism, civic engagement, and ethnic conflict: A passage to India

Comparative Politics

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 1-20

  Varshney, Ashutosh ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0038798231     PISSN: 00104159     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/422190     Document Type: Review

References (86)

1. Throughout this paper the terms "ethnic" and "communal" conflict are used interchangeably. This terminological practice is consistent with the broad definition of ethnicity (that is, group identity) proposed by Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
2. Internal differences exist within postmodern and/or poststructural scholarship, just as they do within the mainstream social sciences. In both cases, the internal differences are less wide than those between postmodern approaches and the mainstream social sciences. For a useful overview of postmodernism and the differences within it, see Pauline Marie Rosenau, Pośtmodernism and the Social Sciences (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992). As is widely known, Foucault, Lyotard, and Derrida have provided the principal theoretical inspiration for the postmodern literature.
3. Gyan Prakash, "Introduction," in After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), p. 10. Also see Gyan Prakash, "Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism," American Historical Review, 100 (December 1994).
4. Gyan Prakash, "Introduction," in After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), p. 10. Also see Gyan Prakash, "Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism," American Historical Review, 100 (December 1994).
5. For example, Richard Rorty, Essays on Heidegger and Others (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); and Jürgen Habermas, "Modernity versus Post Modernity," New German Critique (Winter 1981). A good overview is Stephen K. White, Political Theory and Postmodernism (Cambridge University Press, 1991).
6. For example, Richard Rorty, Essays on Heidegger and Others (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); and Jürgen Habermas, "Modernity versus Post Modernity," New German Critique (Winter 1981). A good overview is Stephen K. White, Political Theory and Postmodernism (Cambridge University Press, 1991).
7. For example, Richard Rorty, Essays on Heidegger and Others (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); and Jürgen Habermas, "Modernity versus Post Modernity," New German Critique (Winter 1981). A good overview is Stephen K. White, Political Theory and Postmodernism (Cambridge University Press, 1991).
8. For what they mean, see Rosenau, pp. xi-xiv.
9. Scholars of India are among the most widely noted in the postmodern genre, especially the members of the "subaltern school." Eight volumes of Subaltern Studies (Oxford University Press) have so far come out. The group consists mainly of historians, anthropologists, and literary critics. Partha Chatterjee and Paul Brass are among the few political scientists who have written in the postmodern genre, the latter independently. See Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993); Paul Brass, Theft of an Idol (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming); and Paul Brass, ed., Riots and Pogroms (London: Macmillan, 1996).
10. Scholars of India are among the most widely noted in the postmodern genre, especially the members of the "subaltern school." Eight volumes of Subaltern Studies (Oxford University Press) have so far come out. The group consists mainly of historians, anthropologists, and literary critics. Partha Chatterjee and Paul Brass are among the few political scientists who have written in the postmodern genre, the latter independently. See Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993); Paul Brass, Theft of an Idol (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming); and Paul Brass, ed., Riots and Pogroms (London: Macmillan, 1996).
11. Scholars of India are among the most widely noted in the postmodern genre, especially the members of the "subaltern school." Eight volumes of Subaltern Studies (Oxford University Press) have so far come out. The group consists mainly of historians, anthropologists, and literary critics. Partha Chatterjee and Paul Brass are among the few political scientists who have written in the postmodern genre, the latter independently. See Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993); Paul Brass, Theft of an Idol (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming); and Paul Brass, ed., Riots and Pogroms (London: Macmillan, 1996).
12. Scholars of India are among the most widely noted in the postmodern genre, especially the members of the "subaltern school." Eight volumes of Subaltern Studies (Oxford University Press) have so far come out. The group consists mainly of historians, anthropologists, and literary critics. Partha Chatterjee and Paul Brass are among the few political scientists who have written in the postmodern genre, the latter independently. See Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993); Paul Brass, Theft of an Idol (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming); and Paul Brass, ed., Riots and Pogroms (London: Macmillan, 1996).
13. Analogous arguments have also been made about other ex-colonial societies. For Africa, see Leroy Vail, ed., The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); and for Latin America, Frederick Cooper, Allen Isaacman, Florencia Mallon, William Roseberry, and Steve Stern, eds., Confronting Historical Paradigms (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993).
14. Analogous arguments have also been made about other ex-colonial societies. For Africa, see Leroy Vail, ed., The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); and for Latin America, Frederick Cooper, Allen Isaacman, Florencia Mallon, William Roseberry, and Steve Stern, eds., Confronting Historical Paradigms (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993).
15. See esp. Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993).
16. To some, this interpretation would mean that the master narrative has acquired hegemony in a Gramscian sense, in that more and more "natives" have come to believe it. Others would make a distinction between hegemony and dominance, the latter term meaning imposition from above but not acceptance from below.
17. Brass, Theft of an Idol, and Riots and Pogroms, respectively.
18. Gyanendra Pandey, "In Defense of the Fragment: Writing about Hindu-Muslim Riots in India Today," Representations, 37 (Winter 1992); and Brass, Riots and Pogroms.
19. Gyanendra Pandey, "In Defense of the Fragment: Writing about Hindu-Muslim Riots in India Today," Representations, 37 (Winter 1992); and Brass, Riots and Pogroms.
20. Brass, Riots; and Pandey.
21. Some scholars writing in the postmodern mode may quibble with my summary "representations" of their arguments. The arguments are far more complex, they may contend. However, summaries are statements about the average tendency, not about the entire complexity. They are not only unavoidable but also necessary. In the language of music, a concerto is identified by the principal score, not by its entire orchestral accompaniment, or by its key, not by its entire panoply of notes. A better statement of the central tendencies of postmodern approaches to ethnic conflict and identities is welcome.
22. For a historians' critique, see Rosalind O'Hanlon and David Washbrook, "After Orientalism: Culture, Criticism and Politics in the Third World." Comparative Studies in Society and History, 34 (January 1992). On why communalism might predate the British arrival in India, see Chris Bayly, "The Pre-History of Communalism?," Modern Asian Studies, 19 (February 1985).
23. For a historians' critique, see Rosalind O'Hanlon and David Washbrook, "After Orientalism: Culture, Criticism and Politics in the Third World." Comparative Studies in Society and History, 34 (January 1992). On why communalism might predate the British arrival in India, see Chris Bayly, "The Pre-History of Communalism?," Modern Asian Studies, 19 (February 1985).
24. See Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).
25. For a frank admission by the doyen of Kerala's Communist politics that religion has played a significant role in Kerala politics, see E. M. S. Namboodiripad, "Presidential Address," in International Congress of Kerala Studies, Addresses and Abstracts, vol. 1 (Trivandrum: A. K. G. Centre for Research and Studies, 1994).
26. Lloyd Rudolph and Susanne Rudolph, In Pursuit of Lakshmi (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987) p. 196, show that Muslims constitute more than 20 percent of the electorate in 197 out of 545 parliamentary constituencies in India. In a first-past-the-post system, where 30 percent of the vote is often enough to win a seat, these percentages make Muslims highly significant electorally.
27. L. K. Advani, Interview, Sunday (Calcutta), July 22, 1990.
28. Syed Shahabuddin, a prominent Muslim leader, has often made this argument in lectures, discussions, and political speeches.
29. Rudolph and Rudolph, p. 195.
30. Ashutosh Varshney and Steven Wilkinson, "Hindu-Muslim Riots, 1960-1993: New Findings, Possible Remedies," Special Paper Series (Delhi: Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies, May 1996).
31. A small riot also took place in July 1940. The Pioneer (Lucknow), July 8, 1940.
32. Based on Census of India, 1931, vol. 23, H. E. H. the Nizam's dominions (Hyderabad State).
33. A. M. Khusro, Economic and Social Effects of Jagirdari Abolition and Land Reforms in Hyderabad (Hyderabad: Osmania University Press, 1958), pp. 1-12.
34. V. Subbarao, Industrial Capital and Technology in Hyderabad State, 1875-1950 (Delhi: Indian Council of Social Science Research, 1988).
35. The English translations are Council for the Unity of Muslims for MIM and Society of Pure Hindus for Arya Samaj.
36. Ian Copeland, "Communalism in Princely India: The Case of Hyderabad, 1930-40," in Mushirul Hasan, ed., India's Partition (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993).
37. See Lucien Benichou, "From Autocracy to Integration: Political Developments in Hyderabad States, 1938-1948," (Ph.D. diss., University of Western Australia, 1985).
38. A fifth group, the Mulki (Sons of the Soil) League, fell by the wayside as mass politics took over. It was made up of Hindu and Muslim aristocrats based in the capital city and distrusted mass politics.
39. The Nizam found the MIM useful as well as disagreeable. See Benichou, "From Autocracy."
40. See ibid. ch. 3.
41. The various accounts are V. P. Menon, Integration of the India States (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1956); Ali Yavar Jung, Hyderabad in Retrospect (Bombay: Bennet, Coleman and Co., 1949); Mir Laiq Ali, Tragedy of Hyderabad (Karachi: Pakistan Cooperative Society, 1962); and Alan Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten (Bombay: Jaico Publishing House, 1951).
42. The various accounts are V. P. Menon, Integration of the India States (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1956); Ali Yavar Jung, Hyderabad in Retrospect (Bombay: Bennet, Coleman and Co., 1949); Mir Laiq Ali, Tragedy of Hyderabad (Karachi: Pakistan Cooperative Society, 1962); and Alan Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten (Bombay: Jaico Publishing House, 1951).
43. The various accounts are V. P. Menon, Integration of the India States (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1956); Ali Yavar Jung, Hyderabad in Retrospect (Bombay: Bennet, Coleman and Co., 1949); Mir Laiq Ali, Tragedy of Hyderabad (Karachi: Pakistan Cooperative Society, 1962); and Alan Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten (Bombay: Jaico Publishing House, 1951).
44. The various accounts are V. P. Menon, Integration of the India States (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1956); Ali Yavar Jung, Hyderabad in Retrospect (Bombay: Bennet, Coleman and Co., 1949); Mir Laiq Ali, Tragedy of Hyderabad (Karachi: Pakistan Cooperative Society, 1962); and Alan Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten (Bombay: Jaico Publishing House, 1951).
45. Fareed Mirza, Pre and Post Police Action Days in Erstwhile Hyderabad State: What I Saw, Felt and Did, pamphlet published by the author (Hyderabad: 1976), pp. 3, 13. For chilling details about the killing of Muslim dissidents, see Mirza, p. 25; and Ali Yavar Jung, pp. 38-41. About 40 percent of the respondents in my 140-household survey of Hyderabad were over sixty years old and could recall the Razakars in detail.
46. Even today, the spectacular buildings inspired by Shia history and called the Imambaras - literally, the House of Imams - stand out on Lucknow's landscape.
47. H. R. Nevill, Lucknow: A Gazetteer (Allahabad: Government Press, 1904), pp. 65-69.
48. H. L. Lalljee, Shia Muslims' Case (Bombay: Jawahir Publications, 1946), pp. 38-39.
49. See Keith Hjorthhoj, "Kerbala in Context" (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1977).
50. Ninety percent of Muslims in my survey of Hyderabad called the seventh Nizam "secular" and religiously neutral. However, only half of the Hindus interviewed saw the Nizam that way, and a fourth called him "communal." The Lucknow survey found no such disagreement. Not a single Hindu respondent called any of the Nawabs "communal."
51. Based on a reading of government files in the U.P. State Archives, Lucknow, esp. file no. 65/1939, General Administration and "A Note on Shia-Sunni Troubles," undated.
52. Lalljee, p. 32.
53. A Socio-Economic Survey of Street Beggars in Hyderabad (Hyderabad: Indian Institute of Economics, 1956); A Socio-Economic Survey of Rickshaw Drivers in Hyderabad City (Hyderabad: Indian Institute of Economics, 1962).
54. A Socio-Economic Survey of Street Beggars in Hyderabad (Hyderabad: Indian Institute of Economics, 1956); A Socio-Economic Survey of Rickshaw Drivers in Hyderabad City (Hyderabad: Indian Institute of Economics, 1962).
55. Theodore P. Wright, Jr., "Revival of the Majlis Ittehad-ul-Musilimin of Hyderabad," Muslim World, 53 (May 1963), 234-43.
56. Gopal Krishna, "Communal Violence in India," Economic and Political Weekly, Jan. 12, 1985, p. 66.
57. Brass, Riots, "Introduction."
58. Sudhir Kakar, The Colors of Violence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
59. Javeed Alam, "The Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Musilimeen and the Muslims of Hyderabad," in Gyan Pandy, ed., Hindus and Others (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993).
60. Interview with Vande Matram Ram Chandra Rao, Hyderabad, October 23, 1993.
61. Interview with M. Channa Reddy, Hyderabad, March 10, 1995. Also, interviews with several police and civil administrators stationed in Hyderabad in October-December 1990.
62. "Note on Shia-Sunni Trouble," Lucknow Administration, undated, p. 7.
63. UNESCO Report on Communal Tensions (Hindu-Muslim) (Lucknow: Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, 1952, typescript).
64. Based on Shankar Bose and V. B. Singh, State Elections in India (Delhi: Sage, 1988).
65. V. C. Sharma, Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers: Lucknow (Allahabad: Government of Uttar Pradesh, 1959), pp. 70-71.
66. UNESCO Report, p. 40.
67. Angela S. Burger, Opposition in a Dominant Party System (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969).
68. A large survey in 1954-56 found that in Lucknow "among the Hindus the upper castes are the most numerous, accounting for 31 percent of the total population." Radhakamal Mukherjee and Baljit Singh, Social Profiles of a Metropolis (New York: Asia Publishing House, 1961), p. 41.
69. Interviews with Ashok Priyadarshi, District Magistrate in Lucknow from 1989 to 1992, November 21, 1993, and August 21, 1994.
70. Ashutosh Varshney, "Contested Meanings, India's National Identity, Hindu Nationalism and the Politics of Anxiety," Daedalus, 122 (Summer 1993).
71. Interview with Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, President of MIM, Hyderabad, October 24, 1993.
72. Ashutosh Varshney, "The Self-Correcting Mechanisms of Indian Democracy," Seminar (Delhi), 425 (January 1995).
73. Paul Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974), ch. 3.
74. See Clare M. Wilkinson-Weber, "Embroidered Lives" (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1994).
75. V. B. Singh, P. D. Shrimali, and R. S. Mathur, "Problems of Select Urban Handicrafts in Uttar Pradesh (A Survey): Chikan Lucknow" (Lucknow: The Girl Institute of Economic Development and Industrial Relations, 1975), p. 16.
76. Wilkinson-Weber, pp. 173-81, surveys the various estimates.
77. Singh et al., "Problems," pp. 8-9.
78. U.P. Minorities Financial and Development Corporation, "A Survey of Chikan Industry,' p. 3, undated.
79. Interview with the President of the Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hyderabad, August 12, 1995.
80. Afzal Mohammed, "Role of Informal Sector in Urban Communities: A Case Study of Hyderabad City" (Hyderabad: Centre for Economic and Social Studies, 1994, typescript).
81. Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), is highly doubtful about the sturdiness of trust built in vertical networks of relationships, as opposed to horizontal networks created on the basis of equality. It can, however, be shown that vertical arrangements can also be considerably robust if they are ideologically undergirded by a "moral economy" (as they were in India's caste system for a long time) or by an economic symbiosis (as in the case of Lucknow's textiles industry).
82. Dilip Menon, Caste, Nationalism and Communism in South India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
83. In Surat, the third historically peaceful town in the project, a nasty riot did take place after the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque. However, an overwhelming proportion of violence was confined to the new industrial slums. The old city witnessed some arson and looting but few deaths. Preexisting Hindu-Muslim networks prevented a conflagration in the old part of the town. No such networks existed in the newer shanty towns.
84. Howard Spodek, "From Gandhi to Violence," Modern Asian Studies, 23 (October 1989).
85. King, Keohane, and Verba, Designing Social Inquiry, p. 128.
86. Rosenau, Postmodernism, chs. 1 and 8.