Resisting Colonialism and Communal Politics

Resisting Colonialism and Communal Politics
Author: Rizwan Qaiser
Publisher:
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: India
ISBN: 9788173049033

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), has largely remained less explored as a political leader in the history of Indias struggle for independence. Two reasons seem quite plausible for this; one, historians have ignored the claims and contributions of those, generally described as nationalist Muslims in view of Indias Partition as they focused more on the politics and claims of the Muslim League; the second would be lack of knowledge of Urdu, in which, Azad has left behind a considerable corpus of evidence. The combination of the two has resulted in near silence of historians on political life of Azad, honourable exceptions notwithstanding. Such neglect and ignorance about the man and his times has left a void in our knowledge not only about Maulana Azad but the entire range of Muslim political opinion aligned with the cause of Indian nationalism and freedom movement. This volume provides a much needed and timely corrective. With the help of extensive but hitherto unexplored primary sources the author has been able to argue that Azads politics was continuously evolving while he remained steadfast towards composite Indian nationalism and resistant to communal politics. This volume is invaluable for scholars of Indian nationalism and Modern Indian History.

Decolonizing Democracy

Decolonizing Democracy
Author: Christine Keating
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2015-06-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0271068086

Most democratic theorists have taken Western political traditions as their primary point of reference, although the growing field of comparative political theory has shifted this focus. In Decolonizing Democracy, comparative theorist Christine Keating interprets the formation of Indian democracy as a progressive example of a “postcolonial social contract.” In doing so, she highlights the significance of reconfigurations of democracy in postcolonial polities like India and sheds new light on the social contract, a central concept within democratic theory from Locke to Rawls and beyond. Keating’s analysis builds on the literature developed by feminists like Carole Pateman and critical race theorists like Charles Mills that examines the social contract’s egalitarian potential. By analyzing the ways in which the framers of the Indian constitution sought to address injustices of gender, race, religion, and caste, as well as present-day struggles over women’s legal and political status, Keating demonstrates that democracy’s social contract continues to be challenged and reworked in innovative and potentially more just ways.

A History of Bangladesh

A History of Bangladesh
Author: Willem van Schendel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 459
Release: 2020-07-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108620337

Bangladesh did not exist as an independent state until 1971. Willem van Schendel's state-of-the-art history navigates the extraordinary twists and turns that created modern Bangladesh through ecological disaster, colonialism, partition, a war of independence and cultural renewal. In this revised and updated edition, Van Schendel offers a fascinating and highly readable account of life in Bangladesh over the last two millennia. Based on the latest academic research and covering the numerous historical developments of the 2010s, he provides an eloquent introduction to a fascinating country and its resilient and inventive people. A perfect survey for travellers, expats, students and scholars alike.

Theorizing a Bengali Nation

Theorizing a Bengali Nation
Author: Sucharita Sen
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2024-06-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1040040500

This book explores the philosophical and political roots of the United Bengal movement of 1947 that emerged as a final bid to keep the province united against Partition. Through Abul Hashim, one of its architects, it explores the idea of an independent Bengali nation in the years preceding Independence and examines the underlying tensions of the concept of a Muslim-led independent Bangalistaan and its repercussions on a sizeable Hindu minority. Focusing on Hashim’s writings and political contributions, this monograph highlights his vision of an aesthetic identity rooted within religious principles as well as civic ideals in a new united Bengal, where common law underwritten through religious ideals did not need to be necessarily opposed to western discourses of a modern state. A major, new intervention, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of modern Indian history, especially the Partition, politics, and South Asian studies.

Anti-Colonialism and Education

Anti-Colonialism and Education
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2006-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9087901119

There is a rich intellectual history to the development of anti-colonial thought and practice. In discussing the politics of knowledge production, this collection borrows from and builds upon this intellectual traditional to offer understandings of the macro-political processes and structures of education delivery (e. g., social organization of knowledge, culture, pedagogy and resistant politics).

Print and the Urdu Public

Print and the Urdu Public
Author: Megan Eaton Robb
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2020-10-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190089393

In early twentieth century British India, prior to the arrival of digital medias and after the rise of nationalist political movements, a small-town paper from the margins of society became a key player in Urdu journalism. Published in the isolated market town of Bijnor, Madinah grew to hold influence across North India and the Punjab while navigating complex issues of religious and political identity. In Print and the Urdu Public, Megan Robb uses the previously unexamined perspective of the Madinah to consider Urdu print publics and urban life in South Asia. Through a discursive and material analysis of Madinah, the book explores how Muslims who had settled in ancestral qasbahs, or small towns, used newspapers to facilitate a new public consciousness. The book demonstrates how Madinah connected the Urdu newspaper conversation both explicitly and implicitly with Muslim identity and delineated the boundaries of a Muslim public conversation in a way that emphasized rootedness to local politics and small urban spaces. The case study of this influential but understudied newspaper reveals how a network of journalists with substantial ties to qasbahs produced a discourse self-consciously alternative to the Western-influenced, secularized cities. Megan Robb augments the analysis with evidence from contemporary Urdu, English, and Hindi papers, government records, private diaries, private library holdings, ethnographic interviews, and training materials for newspaper printers. This thoroughly researched volume recovers the erasure of qasbah voices and proclaims the importance of space and time in definitions of the public sphere in South Asia. Print and the Urdu Public demonstrates how an Urdu newspaper published from the margins became central to the Muslim public constituted in the first half of the twentieth century.

Community of Peace

Community of Peace
Author: Christopher Courtheyn
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2022-03-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 082298878X

Achieving peace is often thought about in terms of military operations or state negotiations. Yet it also happens at the grassroots level, where communities envision and create peace on their own. The San José de Apartadó Peace Community of small-scale farmers has not waited for a top-down peace treaty. Instead, they have actively resisted forced displacement and co-optation by guerrillas, army soldiers, and paramilitaries for two decades in Colombia’s war-torn Urabá region. Based on ethnographic action research over a twelve-year period, Christopher Courtheyn illuminates the community’s understandings of peace and territorial practices against ongoing assassinations and displacement. San José’s peace through autonomy reflects an alternative to traditional modes of politics practiced through electoral representation and armed struggle. Courtheyn explores the meaning of peace and territory, while also interrogating the role of race in Colombia’s war and the relationship between memory and peace. Amid the widespread violence of today’s global crisis, Community of Peace illustrates San José’s rupture from the logics of colonialism and capitalism through the construction of political solidarity and communal peace.

Colonialism and Resistance

Colonialism and Resistance
Author: Arambam Noni
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2015-10-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317270657

Part of the ‘Transition in Northeastern India’ series, this volume critically explores how Northeast India, especially Manipuri society, responded to colonial rule. It studies the interplay between colonialism and resistance to provide an alternative understanding of colonialism on the one hand, and society and state formation on the other. Challenging dominant histories of the area, the essays provide significant insights into understanding colonialism and its multiple effects on economy, polity, culture, and faith system. It examines hitherto untouched areas in the study of Northeast, and discusses how social movements are augmented, constituted or sustained. This book will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of modern history, sociology and social anthropology, particularly those concerned with Northeast India.