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The Contours of Secularism in South Asian Minority Writing Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2010 The Contours of Secularism in South Asian Minority Writing Roger McNamara Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the East Asian Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation McNamara, Roger, "The Contours of Secularism in South Asian Minority Writing" (2010). Dissertations. 78. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/78 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2010 Roger McNamara LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO THE CONTOURS OF SECULARISM IN SOUTH ASIAN MINORITY WRITIING A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN ENGLISH BY ROGER McNAMARA CHICAGO, IL DECEMBER 2010 Copyright by Roger McNamara, 2010 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank the Graduate School at Loyola University Chicago for giving me a Graduate Student Assistantship, without which I would not have been able to join the Ph.D. program, and for awarding me the Advanced Doctoral Fellowship last year that allowed me to focus exclusively on my dissertation. The Department of English provided a healthy intellectual environment. I am particularly grateful to my professors for encouraging me to develop my ideas and providing positive feedback on papers that I wrote for their courses. Not only have the Graduate Program Directors, Dr. David Chinitz and Dr. Pamela Caughie, helped facilitate my transition through the program, but have been concerned about the unique problems that I faced as an international student. I would not have been able to complete the dissertation if I had not been employed at Cudahy Library and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. More than the financial support, I am grateful for friendships that I developed at the library. From the many of staff members, graduate students, and undergraduate work- study students that I have bonded with over these years, I must single out Bonnie McNamara and Mike Nasser. The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures was a wonderful place to teach, especially for a graduate student who struggled to gain confidence to lecture in the classroom. I thank Dr. Wiley Feinstein for his support, and especially Dr. Suzanna Cavallo, who advised me on pedagogical strategies, but who had faith that I could develop independently as a teacher. Thanks also to Dr. Jeff Harder and iii Dr. Elizabeth Coffman for giving me the opportunity to teach Indian Film for the Department of Communication. I am indebted to my dissertation committee for their unstinted support, both intellectual and emotional, while I was researching and writing my dissertation. Dr. Micael Clarke always provided prompt feedback, made me think more carefully about the moral implications of my arguments, and made me aware of the different ways in which secularism developed in Europe and South Asia. Dr. Christopher Kendrick gave me sound advice on the theoretical aspects of my project and helped me refine my interpretations of the literary texts I was analyzing. I still am not sure whether I have grasped all the implications of his suggestions. I will always be grateful to my advisor, Dr. Mann, for her wisdom. While I arrived at my dissertation topic independently, I only did so after she made me realize that I needed to explore a subject that would sustain my intellectual interest throughout the writing process. She also made me aware of how my own assumptions about identity and politics filtered the way I engaged specific communities and how I interpreted texts. All three members of my committee met with me often and gave me more attention than they were required to. Our long conversations about my research, and occasionally on non-academic issues, helped me develop strong relationships with them. When I arrived at Chicago, my uncle, Fr. Dennis Carneiro supported me financially, materially, and emotionally. It is due to his kindness that my transition from Calcutta to Chicago was smooth. I thank him very much. I was fortunate to have an extended surrogate family in Chicago. Ivan, Jenny, Linda, and Rohit D’Souza have iv always been affectionate and concerned about my well-being. I could always find a bed to sleep on, a hot cup of tea, and look forward to intense games of chess whenever I visited Manoj and Parol Verma. Also, a special thanks to Steven Nassar who was always ready to act as a sounding board for ideas that I was struggling to think through. His patience and politeness, even when he disagreed with my interpretations of texts, is truly remarkable. Speaking to Kuheli Dutt, Gautam George, and Sunil Rajah on the phone, whether they were in India or the United States, always lifted my spirits. They prove that friendships can last despite distance and long intervals between conversations. I am very fortunate to have met Loraine Eadie; it was our friendship that sustained me emotionally during these last few years at Loyola. Irrespective of how difficult the week was, I always looked forward to our weekly ritual—dinner every Sunday. Words can never express how grateful I am to Kanika Batra, who provided me emotional and intellectual support when I joined Loyola and has continued to do so throughout these years. This dissertation, from the texts that I have used to the ideas I have developed, could not have been written without her advice and friendship. I wish to acknowledge my English and literature teachers in high school and college in India who helped me appreciate literature, inspired me, and trained me in close reading. I will always be grateful to Alan Da’ Silva, Bertram Da’ Sliva, Joyce Devdas, and Rohinton Kapadia. Most of all, I am grateful to my family. My brother Richard and my parents have always encouraged and trusted me through this journey, even when they could not v fathom why I needed so much time to finish my doctorate. I would not have been able to complete my dissertation without their unwavering support and love. vi For my parents, Neville and Gertrude McNamara TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWELDGMENTS iii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: CARNIVAL AND ARTIFICE AS RESPONSES TO THE SECULAR IN CARL MULLER’S AND MICHAEL ONDAATJE’S FICTION 41 CHAPTER TWO: ENVISIONING THE HUMAN IN SAADAT HASAN MANTO’S AND ISMAT CHUGHTAI’S FICTION 96 CHAPTER THREE: SECULAR NATIONALISM, HISTORICISM, AND ANGLO-INDIAN WRITING 168 CHAPTER FOUR: BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY AND THE INDIVIDUAL: THE POLITICS OF SECULARISM AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN ROHINTON MISTRY’S FAMILY MATTERS 232 CHAPTER FIVE: THE INSTRUMENTAL USE OF RATIONALITY TO CRITIQUE RELIGION AND CASTE IN BAMA’S KARUKKU AND SANGATI 284 CONCLUSION 340 REFERENCES 347 VITA 359 viii INTRODUCTION The destruction of the sixteenth century Babri Masjid (mosque) in Ayodhya on 6 December, 1993, by Hindu nationalists was a pivotal moment in the history of the modern Indian secular state. The Hindu-Muslim riots that followed in its wake and the subsequent popularity of the Hindu Right demonstrated that secular nationalism, the dominant political doctrine since Independence that promoted “unity-in-diversity” and affirmed the rights of the abstract Indian citizen, had lost its credibility. But its legitimacy had already been whittled away by political upheavals in the late 1970s and 1980s. Regional political parties undermined the authority of the all-powerful Congress party in the electorate and oppressed groups—Other Backward Castes (OBCs, earlier referred to as “Sudras”) and Dalits (previously called “Untouchable”)—began to assert themselves in the public sphere. Furthermore, the political integrity of the country was challenged as separatist movements had arisen in Kashmir and Punjab. The state’s subsequent suppression of Kashmiri-Muslim and Sikh nationalisms and tacit participation in the 1984 pogrom against the Sikhs in northern India (following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards) revealed that despite the rhetoric of secular nationalism, ethnic and religious diversity was no longer respected in the state or in civil society. Therefore, the Hindu-Muslim riots after the destruction of the Babri Masjid highlighted the inadequacy of secular nationalism to resolve the growing political and social unrest within the public sphere from a diverse number of sources—religious and 1 2 ethnic minorities, regional parties, separatist movements, lower-caste groups, and Hindu nationalists. Social activists, feminists, and public intellectuals have not only critiqued secular nationalism, but have debated whether secularism itself, as a political doctrine and a cultural project, should be retained as an ideal in the public sphere. The need to think through alternative models of citizenship and coexistence to replace secular nationalism became even more urgent after the horrific Hindu-Muslim riots in Godhra, Gujarat, in 2002, tacitly supported by the state government of the Gujarat. While some critics examine the relevance of secularism as a political doctrine— one that defines the relationship between the state and religious and ethnic communities—others explore the adequacy of secularism as a cultural project. They explore whether secularism can create a healthy environment in civil society where religious, ethnic, gender, and linguistic differences will be recognized and accepted. The public debate over whether secularism is an effective political doctrine reveals fundamental disagreements even among its proponents and opponents. While some secularists argue that the state must guarantee the rights of minorities and that these rights are non-negotiable, others point out that community rights can only be satisfactorily created through a dialogue between the state and the different communities.
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