Weaponizing Language - Legislating a Hindu India

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this is the first book-length examination of how India's Hindu nationalist government uses language as a weapon against its Muslim citizens. It is essential reading for academic researchers and students in sociolinguistics, as well as South Asia studies, gender studies and Indian politics and culture.

List of contents

Acknowledgments; Author's Notes; Political Parties, Alliances, and Abbreviations; Chronology; Introduction; 1. Cartographies of Language and Citizenship; 2. Where God Was Born: Ramajanmbhoomi and Babri Masjid; 3. From Shah Bano to Sharaya Bano: Indian Muslim Women as Subjects of Rights; 4. Gifts that Keep on Giving: Kashmir, Article 370, and Pakistan; 5. Who Is a Citizen of India? Citizenship Amendment Act, Minorities, and Termites; Postscript; Appendix; Glossary; References.

About the author

Ila Nagar is Associate Professor at The Ohio State University. Her recent publications include Being Janana: Language and Sexuality in Contemporary India (Routledge, 2019). She studies how language represents familiar and unfamiliar social hierarchies.

Summary

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this is the first book-length examination of how India's Hindu nationalist government uses language as a weapon against its Muslim citizens. It is essential reading for academic researchers and students in sociolinguistics, as well as South Asia studies, gender studies and Indian politics and culture.

Foreword

The first book-length examination of how India's Hindu nationalist government uses language as a weapon against its Muslim citizens.

Product details

• Authors: Ila Nagar, Ila (Ohio State University) Nagar
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.08.2025
• EAN: 9781009480291
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0948029-1
• No. of pages: 236
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; 20th Century, Nationalism, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, 21st Century, India, Sociolinguistics, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Gender studies: women, Interfaith relations, Gender studies: women and girls, Early 21st century c 2000 to c 2050