Against History, Against State - Counterperspectives From the Margins

Informationen zum Autor Shail Mayaram Klappentext Reassessing conventional South Asian historiography from a subaltern perspective! Against History! Against State examines how conceptions of history and memory clash. For nearly a millennium! the Meos of northwest India -- one of the largest Muslim populations in South Asia -- endured a succession of brutally oppressive regimes! from the Arab conquest in the eighth century through the establishment of the Turkish Sultanate! the Mughal Empire! the regional Rajput kingdoms! and the era of British imperialism. Unwilling to abandon their ethnic and religious identity! the Meos developed an independent oral tradition that enabled them to challenge state formation for centuries. By creating an alternate record of their past through songs and stories! the Meos were able to successfully retain a degree of cultural sovereignty. But their quest for autonomy was stigmatized! even criminalized! while histories -- written by the literate! ruling elite -- transformed ethnic prejudice into historical fact. This pioneering study! based on a decade of intensive research! explores the Meo community through their oral tradition! revealing sophisticated modes of collective memory and self-governance. Against History! Against State reveals the remarkable complexity and resilience of a transgressive culture that has survived on the margins of Hinduism and Islam. Zusammenfassung A reassessment of conventional South Asian historiography from a subaltern perspective and a unique look at how conceptions of history and community clash. This incisive study explores the Meo community through their oral literature! revealing sophisticated modes of collective memory and self-government while telling a story that radically diverges from most accepted Indian histories. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Introduction2. The Making of Meo Marginality3. Anti-State: The Pal Polity4. Towards a Critique of Indo-Persion Historiography5. Imperial State Formation and Resistance6. The Construction of Meo Criminality: Towards a Critique of Colonial Ethnography7. Crime! Feud and Resistance in Early Nineteenth Century Mewat8. The Prose and Verse of Rebellion: the Gadar of 18579. Kings! Peasants and Bandits10. Conclusions ...

Product details

• Authors: Shail Mayaram
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 07.01.2004
• EAN: 9780231127318
• ISBN: 978-0-231-12731-8
• No. of pages: 344
• Series: Cultures of History; Cultures of History (Paperback; Cultures of History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Miscellaneous