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Taking as its premise the belief that communalism is not a resurgence of tradition but is instead an inherently modern phenomenon, as well as a product of the fundamental agencies and ideas of modernity, and that globalization is neither a unique nor unprecedented process, this book addresses the question of whether globalization has amplified or muted processes of communalism. It does so through exploring the concurrent histories of communalism and globalization in four South Asian contexts - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - as well as in various diasporic locations, from the nineteenth century to the present.
Including contributions by some of the most notable scholars working on communalism in South Asia and its diaspora as well as by some challenging new voices, the book encompasses both different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. It looks at a range of methodologies in an effort to stimulate new debates on the relationship between communalism and globalization, and is a useful contribution to studies on South Asia and Asian History.
List of contents
Part 1: Introduction 1. Communalism and globalization: an opening gambit in a conversation between two literatures Chandana Mathur Part 2: Thinking historically 2. Beyond communalism: India, Pakistan and the challenges of globalization Ayesha Jalal 3. Salafi extremism in the Punjab and its transnational impact Tahir Kamran 4. Western Hindutva: Hindu nationalism in the United Kingdom and North America Christophe Jaffrelot and Ingrid Therwath 5. Empire, geo-politics and ethno-nationalisms: Ireland, India and Sri Lanka Jude Lal Fernando Part 3: Contemporary connections: problems and possibilities 6. Pragmatics of the Hindu right: globalization and thepolitics of women’s organisations in India Tanika Sarkar 7. Cinema, nation and communalism in a globalizing Bangladesh Zakir Hossain Raju 8. Imrana’s rape: debating Islam and law in contemporary India Barbara Metcalf 9. Communalism in Sri Lanka: locating the labour movement Janaka Biyanwila 10. Searching for the greatest Bengali: the BBC and shiftingidentity categories in South Asia Reece Jones 11. Religion, diaspora and globalization: the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Jama’at-i Islami in the United States Aminah Mohammad-Arif Part 4: Theoretical constructions 12. Islam, gender and the nation: the social life of Bangladeshi fatwas Dina Mahnaz Siddiqi 13. Kottu.org: community after communalism Pradeep Jeganathan 14. New directions: communalism, globalization and governmentality Deana Heath
About the author
Deana Heath is an Indian Council for Cultural Relations Research Fellow at
Delhi University. Her research focuses on placing South Asia in broader
comparative, transnational and global contexts. She is the author of Purifying
Empire: obscenity and the politics of moral regulations in Britain, India and
Australia (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Chandana Mathur is lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Her work draws on the perspectives of anthropological political economy in the context of North America, South Asia and its diaspora.
Summary
Taking as its premise the belief that communalism is not a resurgence of tradition but is instead an inherently modern phenomenon, as well as a product of the fundamental agencies and ideas of modernity, and that globalization is neither a unique nor unprecedented process, this book addresses the question of whether globalization has amplified or muted processes of communalism.
