Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Communalism India'

Militant Hinduism announced its presence in India in the early 1980s. Since then, it has posed a challenge to the biggest functioning democracy in the world and the secular ethos on which its nation state was formed. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as an alternative force to the once dominant, secular Congress party and came to power in the 1990s. The rise of Hindu nationalism was accompanied by recurring large-scale communal (Hindu-Muslim) riots. The notion of a monolithic Hindu identity is, of course, inherently implausible in view of the differences of caste which fragment it. This thesis seeks to investigate and explain the formation of a "Hindu identity" and the growth of communalism in India since the 1980s. The key questions my research addresses are: why and how did a "Hindu identity" crystallise and why were such a large number of people mobilised in its name with sufficient success to affect the shape of Indian politics? The growth of Hindu nationalism over that period, I argue, is better understood as the effect of transformations among Hindus rather than simply as a conflict between Hindus and Muslims. This dissertation argues that Hindu nationalism, while ostensibly directed against Muslims, was, in fact, the product of tensions between Hindus. The hostility of some Hindus against Muslims is closely related to caste conflicts, especially those between `forward' and `backward' castes. Remarkably, the startling rise of Hindu militancy against Muslims in the 1980s coincided with the extensive growth of caste conflicts. Actually, in some cases, caste conflicts turned into Hindu-Muslim violence. These caste conflicts have revolved around the state's redistributive policies for the benefit of backward castes Hindus. These preferential policies for backward castes have served to complicate and antagonise caste relations, especially as they appeared to offer lower and backward castes greater opportunities for social mobility. As some segments of the lower and backward castes appeared to improve their economic situation, forward caste Hindus feared that their own opportunities were being restricted and their dominance challenged. They were now suddenly forced to compete with the lower castes, of lesser status, on terms, which they perceived to be disadvantageous. The intensification of communal antagonism since the 1980s, I argue, reflected the resulting and growing uncertainties within the Hindu moral order. The growth of Hindu militancy and the formation of a "Hindu identity" was therefore informed by the complex inter-relationship between caste and class. Its ascent was largely reproduced and energised by the state's policies and political discourse. These findings make it difficult to see either religion or cultural particularism as the sole, or even primary source of the conflict in India. This line of reasoning is pursued through the lens of the large-scale Ahmedabad riots of 1985. Chapter one establishes the background. It delineates the transformations in the political economy and socio-economic changes, particularly in the interrelations between caste and class among Hindus. Chapter two sets out the political context in which the reservation crisis and the growth of communalism occurred. In the 1970s and 1980s there was no evidence of endemic or even newly developing Hindu-Muslim strife in the politics of Gujarat. Political conflicts, in so far as they concerned religion, focused on the "Hindu order" and issues of caste. The intervention of the state, especially in its reservations policy, addressed issues of equality as if they were synonymous with the rights of religious minorities. In so doing, it enabled caste conflicts to develop and deepen communal rivalries. Chapters three and four present two views of the Ahmedabad riots of 1985. Chapter three recaptures the formal view of the riots as it was seen by the various agencies of the state and represented in their documents. Chapter four provides an alternative account, and reflects on the events from a vernacular grass-roots perspective as revealed in both archival documents and oral testimonies of survivors and witnesses. Consequently, it exposes the formal view to critical analysis. Chapter five provides an analysis of the making of EthnoHinduism. It analyses the implications of the Ahmedabad riots for the relationships between caste, class and communalism. By investigating the riots in the context of Gujarat politics the thesis seeks to offer an explanation for the rise of militant Hindu nationalism in India since the 1980s.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, 2009.
Title from dissertation title page (viewed Apr. 19, 2010). Includes abstract. "A project report and thesis submitted to the Faculty of Brite Divinity School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry." Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis explores the origin of one of the most engrossing concerns of the post-colonial Indian state, that is, its extensive, intricate, and expensive feeding arrangements for the civilians. It tracks the colonial origin of the post-colonial welfare state, of which state-management of food is one of the most publicized manifestations. This thesis examines the intervention of the late colonial British state in food procurement and distribution in India during the Second World War, and various forms of such intervention, such as the introduction of food rationing and food austerity laws. It argues that the war necessitated actions on the part of the colonial state to secure food supplies to a vastly expanded British Indian Army, to the foreign Allied troops stationed in India, and to the workers employed in war-industries. The thesis brings forth the constitutional and political predicaments that deprived the colonial central government's food administration of success. It further reveals how the bitter bargaining about food imports into India between the Government of India and the War Cabinet in Britain hampered the state efforts to tackle the food crisis. By discussing the religious and cultural codes vis-à-vis food consumption that influenced government food policies, this thesis has situated food in the historiography of consumption in colonial India. In addition to adopting a political approach to study food, it has also applied sociological treatment, particularly while dealing with how the wartime scarcity, and consequent austerity laws, forced people to accept novel consumption cultures. It also contributes to the historiography of 'everyday state'. Through its wartime intervention in everyday food affairs, the colonial state that had been distant and abstract in the perception of most common households, suddenly became a reality to be dealt with in everyday life within the domestic site. Thus, the macro state penetrated micro levels of existence. The colonial state now even developed elaborate food surveillance to gather intelligence about violation of food laws. This thesis unravels the responses of some of the political and religious organizations to state intervention in quotidian food consumption. Following in this vein, through a study of the political use of famine-relief in wartime Bengal, it introduces a new site to the study of communal politics in India, namely, propagation of Hindu communal politics through distribution of food by the Hindu Mahasabha party. Further, it demonstrates how the Muslim League government's failure to prevent the Great Bengal Famine of 1943-44 was politically used by the Mahasabha to oppose the League's emerging demand for the creation of Pakistan.

A partir de l'ethnographie d'une secte minoritaire de l'islam indien, les ismaéliens daoudi bohras, cette thèse explore les processus menant à la construction identitaire en tant que communauté religieuse distincte. Les daoudi bohras, dont une large majorité vit entre Mumbai, le Gujarat et le Sind, forment à la fois une caste commerçante et une secte ismaélienne chiite avec ses propres rites. Dès l'époque coloniale, et ce jusqu'à aujourd'hui, des conflits internes ont porté sur les modalités de l'autorité suprême, celle du guide religieux le d'ai et de l'organisation par laquelle il gouverne, la dawat. Cette thèse, à travers un travail monographique, explore les différents aspects d'un conflit qui a abouti au relatif échec des réformes religieuses demandées par une branche 'progressiste'. Une première partie historique revient sur la genèse de ce communautarisme durant la période coloniale puis dans le contexte de l'émergence des nationalismes religieux en Asie du sud. Une deuxième partie explore les composantes de l'identité communautaire. Quelle est la nature de la « dawat », l'institution religieuse représentative de l'ensemble des membres? La réorganisation de cette institution s'est opérée dans la concurrence avec d'autres organisations prosélytes (hindouisme militant, islam réformé, sécularisme ressenti). Progressivement, l'association fonctionnelle de la caste, dont l'objectif premier était de représenter les intérêts du réseau mercantile, s'est affirmée comme la résurgence d'un modèle de gouvernance idéal. Tandis que les relations politiques se teintent de clientélisme, la communauté est sacralisée autour de sa puissante institution centrale
This thesis explores the processes which frame the identity construction as a distinctive Ismaili religious community. The research is based on a detailed ethnography study of this minority of Indian Muslims. The Dawoodi Bohras are largely settled in the region of Mumbai, Gujarat and Sind. They represent both a business caste as well as an Ismaili shia sect which nurtures its own rites. Since the colonial time, internal conflicts have confrontated the supreme authority and the “dawat” central organization. This thesis explores the various aspects of the conflict which have resulted in a relative failure of the religious reforms which were requested by a progressive branch of the community. The first part of the thesis examines the genesis of this communalism within the context of the emerging religious nationalisms in South Asia.The second part investigates the different aspects of the community identity. What is the nature of the “dawat”, the religious institution representing the dawoodi bohras? The reorganization of this institution occurred in the confrontation with the political environment (Hindutva, reformed Islam, secularism). The association of the mercantile caste, promoting the interests of the membres of the network, has gradually become sacralized and emerged like « a religious ideal society ». While the political relations of the dawat are based on clientelism, the power of this central institution is sacralized within the community

Depuis les années 2000, le secteur de la santé de la reproduction, longtemps délaissé par le gouvernement indien, semble constituer un sujet d’inquiétude, notamment dans le nord du pays. Les taux de mortalité encore élevés discréditent l’image de superpuissance que l’État indien aime afficher, le déséquilibre du sex-ratio continue de se creuser en dépit des mesures législatives en vigueur et, malgré une importante baisse du taux de fécondité, le pays doit faire face à une population de plus d’un milliard deux cent millions d’habitants. À partir d’un terrain ethnographique d’un an et demi dans un hôpital public et dans des bidonvilles de Jaipur où une ONG œuvrait pour l’institutionnalisation de la santé maternelle, cette étude analyse les réactions des femmes et de leur famille face aux techniques persuasives et au pouvoir discrétionnaire que le personnel hospitalier et les membres de l’ONG utilisent à leur égard. Elle montre également en quoi les programmes de santé, censés garantir l’accès aux soins, tendent paradoxalement à rendre les bénéficiaires les plus vulnérables davantage conscients des inégalités socio-économiques dans leur vie quotidienne et renforcent les stéréotypes existants. À travers l’expérience des femmes, la santé de la reproduction apparaît comme un domaine sensible où des tensions sociales (castes, classes) et religieuses s’expriment et se cristallisent. La prise en charge de la santé de la reproduction ne se réduit pas à la santé materno-infantile mais englobe les questions de discrimination à l’égard des petites filles, du faible pouvoir décisionnel des femmes et du recours limité à la contraception, enjeux cruciaux qui attisent les différences au sein de la société indienne, sous couvert de progrès et au nom de l’intérêt de la nation
Since the 2000s, the Indian government’s long-neglected reproductive health sector has been a subject of growing concern, especially in the northern part of the country. Mortality rates remain high, calling India’s superpower image into question; the sex ratio imbalance keeps growing despite legislative measures to correct it; and, despite a significant dip in the fertility rate, the country now has a population of over one-billion-two-hundred-million inhabitants. Drawing on one-and-a-half years of ethnographic fieldwork in a public hospital and several slums in Jaipur, this study analyses the reactions of women and their families to the techniques of persuasion and decision-making power used by hospital staff and NGO workers who institutionalise maternal health. The study also shows how health programmes meant to secure universal access to care paradoxically reinforce existing stereotypes and tend to make vulnerable patients even more aware of socioeconomic inequalities in their daily lives. Through the lens of women’s experiences, reproductive health appears to be a sensitive node where religious and social tensions of caste and class get expressed and crystallised. Thus, reproductive health is not confined to maternal and child healthcare; it includes core issues of discrimination toward young girls, the limited decision-making power of women, and ambivalence about contraception among women. While often presented in the guise of progress and the national interest, the institutionalisation of reproductive health actually maintains social disparities within Indian society

Il s’agit d’une « photographie » géopolitique de la République de Maurice avec deux axes très précis : la géopolitique interne et la géopolitique externe du pays. L’analyse est faite à partir de faits essentiellement rapportés dans la presse mauricienne, si riche en diversité et commentaires. Puisant dans la profondeur historique pour essayer d’expliquer le présent, c’est le premier travail d’analyse et de réflexion sur la géopolitique de la jeune république mauricienne. La complexité des rapports entre les différents territoires (Rodrigues et Agaléga) avec l’île Maurice est expliquée, de même que les relations et positions d’ambiguïté avec la Grande-Bretagne (et les Etats-Unis) et la France sur les « contentieux » au sujet de l’archipel des Chagos et de Tromelin respectivement. Les rapports tendus entre les différentes communautés présentes à Maurice sont exposés, de même que la problématique de conversion de terres, souvent agricoles, en résidences de luxe pour étrangers fortunés et projets immobiliers d’envergure. La politique étrangère « neutre », propre à Maurice, est aussi examinée dans le cadre de sa géopolitique externe, de même que sa multiple appartenance aux organismes régionaux indianocéaniques et africains. De par sa « réussite économique » connue de l’étranger, Maurice ambitionne de devenir le centre de toutes choses dans la région et elle se propose d’être la passerelle financière entre l’Afrique et l’Asie. Ayant des liens « ombilicaux » avec l’Inde, Maurice est restée cependant pro-occidentale avec une nette poussée de la francophonie et un déclin de l’influence britannique. Africaine politiquement, Maurice s’oriente économiquement vers l’Asie
The work is a ‘snapshot’ of the geopolitics of the Republic of Mauritius with a two-pronged approach: The Internal Geopolitics and the External Geopolitics of the country. The analysis made is from facts mainly reported in the Mauritian press, so rich in diversity and comments. Going down the historical depth to try to explain the present, it is the first work of analysis and reflection on the geopolitics of the young Mauritian republic.The complexity of the relationships between the different territories (Rodrigues and Agalega) with Mauritius Island is explained, as well as the relationships and ambiguous positions with Great Britain (and the United States) and France on the issues of the Chagos Archipelago and Tromelin respectively. The tense relationships between the different communities present in Mauritius are exposed, as well as the controversial issue of land conversion -often agricultural land- to luxury residences for wealthy foreigners and ambitious real estate projects. The ‘neutral’ foreign policy of Mauritius, so unique, is also examined in the context of its External Geopolitics, as well as its multiple belongings to regional organisations in the Indian Ocean and in Africa. Known abroad for its ‘economic success’, Mauritius aspires to become the regional hub of all possible things and it has positioned itself to be the financial gateway between Africa and Asia. Having ‘umbilical’ links with India, Mauritius has remained however pro-western with an impressive Francophone boost and a decline of the British influence. Politically African, Mauritius is now economically oriented towards Asia

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how India’s Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, constructs the image of minorities and refugees in articles, speeches, and on social media platforms. The analysis is performed with the method of qualitative content analysis within a theoretical framework of propaganda put against the backdrop of Hindu nationalism. The main analysis is divided into four categories, based upon Jowett and O'Donnell’s model of analysing propaganda, going into the themes of: context surrounding the speech; communalism; values; and target audience. This paper argues that Amit Shah’s speech in the upper house of the parliament of India, is a part of a larger Hindu nationalist campaign concerning questions of Indian identity that dates back to, at least, the early 20th century.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the Indian Hindu nationalist concept of “love jihad”, an idea based upon the alleged fact that Muslim men actively seeks out non-Muslim women for conversion to Islam by various methods including, false promises of love and abductions. While the accusation that Muslims are conducting love jihad currently is being propagated by several active Hindu nationalist groups, the focus of this paper lies on the Viśva Hindū Pariṣad (VHP) and the Rāṣṭrīya Svayaṃsevak Saṃgh (RSS), two major branches within the so-called family of Hindu nationalist organisations, or the Saṃgh Parivār. The material primarily con-sists of articles pertaining to love jihad, published in each organisation’s mouthpiece magazines. Utilising theories on Indian nationalism placed within a structure of analysing propaganda, based on the propaganda model of Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, this paper investigates the idea of love jihad in relation to the VHP and RSS constructs of Indian identities.

abstract: In contemporary Indian literature, the question over which sets of Indian identities are granted access to power is highly contested. Critics such as Kathleen Waller and Sara Schotland align power with the identity of the autonomous individual, whose rights and freedoms are supposedly protected by the state, while others like David Ludden and Sandria Freitag place power with those who become a part of group identities, either on the national or communal level. The work of contemporary Indian author Aravind Adiga attempts to address this question. While Adiga's first novel The White Tiger applies the themes and ideology of the worth of the individual from African American novelists Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin, Adiga's latest novel, Last Man in Tower, shifts towards a study of the consequences of colonialism, national identity, and the place of the individual within India in order to reveal a changing landscape of power and identity. Through a discussion of Adiga's collective writings, postcolonial theory, American literature, South Asian crime novels, contemporary Indian popular fiction, and some of the challenges facing Mumbai, I track Adiga's shifts and moments of growth between his two novels and evaluate Adiga's ultimate message about who holds power in Indian society: the individual or the community.
Dissertation/Thesis
M.A. English 2013