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Negotiating Christian Identity in Pakistan

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Negotiating Christian Identity in Pakistan PROMOTIE KOR GRIT “CHRISTIANS BY FAITH, PAKISTANI BY CITIZENSHIP” VRIJDAG 18 JANUARI 2019, 10.30 UUR ACADEMIEGEBOUW, UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT DOMPLEIN 29, UTRECHT π θ Kor Grit Negotiating Christian Identity in Pakistan Pakistan in Identity Christian Negotiating “Christians Pakistani by Faith, by Citizenship” “Christians by Faith, Pakistani by Citizenship” Kor Grit VOLUME 118 2019 π θ Quaestiones Infinitae “Christians by Faith, Pakistani by Citizenship” Cover photograph: Johannes Odé Printed by: ProefschriftMaken || www.proefschriftmaken.nl “Christians by Faith, Pakistani by Citizenship” Negotiating Christian Identity in Pakistan “Christenen in Geloof, Pakistani in Burgerschap” Delibereren over Christelijke Identiteit in Pakistan (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 18 januari 2019 des ochtends te 10.30 uur door Kor Grit geboren op 9 januari 1985 te Meppel Promotor: prof.dr. M.T. Frederiks Copromotor: dr. L.M. van Liere CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VII CHAPTER ONE - GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction 1 Approaching Pakistani Christian identity 3 Methodology 8 Pakistani Christian identity as social identity 9 Identity in interaction 12 Negotiating identity 13 Identity talk 16 Framing 18 Research design 20 Fieldwork in Pakistan 23 Dealing with data 28 Structure of the dissertation 29 References 32 CHAPTER TWO - UNDERSTANDING PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS 37 Introduction 37 Pakistani Christians’ missionary origins 39 The Christian Chuhra 41 A mass movement of religious and social mobility 44 Punjabi Christians: from caste to ethnicity 46 Categorizing Pakistani Christians 49 Christians in an Islamic Republic 52 Two narratives of Pakistan’s Islamization 53 Christians under Islamic law 55 Pakistani Christians and Islamic nationhood 62 Caste and Christian citizenship in the context of Islamic nationhood 62 Pakistani Christian responses 65 Conclusion 69 References 70 CHAPTER THREE - NEGOTIATING NATIONAL SAMENESS AND RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCE 77 Introduction 77 Pakistani Islamization and Asian liberation 81 Islamization of the homeland for Indian Muslims 82 Asian interreligious and liberation theology 85 From apologetics to understanding 88 Social turn explained 92 Countering Islamization 94 Liberation theology at CSC 97 Christian identity through dialogue and social action 99 Interreligious Pakistani Christianity 100 Social engagement as Pakistani 102 Conclusion 103 References 105 CHAPTER FOUR - “RELIGION TEACHES PEACE AND HARMONY” 111 Introduction 111 Aiming for harmony in precarious relations 113 Precarious interfaith relations 114 Interfaith harmony and interfaith friends 116 Christian Study Centre in context 120 Appreciation of contextual adaptation 120 Islamization and minority status 122 Diversity in dialogue 126 Between “orthodox,” secularists and evangelicals 127 Navigating religious identities in dialogue 131 Channeling communication of religious difference 132 No compulsion in religion 135 Embracing Christian identity in interfaith dialogue 139 Conclusion 141 References 143 CHAPTER FIVE - CONTESTED TEXTBOOK CONTENT 147 Introduction 147 Discursively embedded frames 150 Discursive fields 150 Frames as interpretations of the situation 152 The power of textbooks 154 Study design 156 Dangerous textbooks 158 Diagnostic: Textbooks as “hate material” 159 Prognostic: National interest 163 Biased textbooks 165 Diagnostic: The problem of historical distortion 166 Who is to blame? 167 Prognostic: Changing content or changing structures 171 Unconstitutional textbooks 173 Diagnostic: The problem of unconstitutional textbooks 173 Prognostic: Constitutional advocacy 176 Conclusion 178 Patriotically criticizing textbooks 178 Discursive extension 179 Minority identity 180 References 181 CHAPTER SIX - CHRISTIAN TEACHERS IN PAKISTAN 187 Introduction 187 Education, religion and difference in Pakistan 190 Islam in textbooks at missionary schools 190 Religious difference in school 194 Study design 195 Missionary schools in Rawalpindi 196 Framing, footing and keying 198 Answering the textbooks 200 Harmonization through shifts in footings 200 Creating space for diversity through keying 206 Discussion 215 Agreement and dispute through keyings 216 Textbook responses and religious difference 217 Conclusion 218 References 220 CHAPTER SEVEN - CONCLUSION 223 Introduction 223 Christian experiences of a “homeland for Muslims” 224 Strategies of identity negotiation 227 Christian identity and Pakistani identity 228 Christian identity and interreligious relations 234 Suggestions for further research 237 APPENDIX I - PRIMARY DATA 239 Interviews 239 Case study: Christian Study Centre 239 Case study: Missionary schools 240 Case study: National Commission for Justice and Peace 241 Fieldwork reports 242 SAMENVATTING IN HET NEDERLANDS 243 CURRICULUM VITAE 257 Acknowledgements “[T]he author failed to understand the sensitivity of the Christian community to the use of the term ‘sweeper’ in relationship to the Christian community. (…) [He] has failed to note how various Christians have in fact radically altered their social status and have achieved places of great responsibility and leadership (…) there is nothing new in the book (…) is the author himself planning to come to Pakistan and help in this situation? Or is he getting a degree at the expense of the feelings and sensitivity of a minority group, all in the name of the ‘science of sociology?’” (CSC 1974: 43). Seated at a desk in the library of the Christian Study Centre in Rawalpindi I was reading this quote in a review of Pieter Streefland’s book The Sweepers of the Slaughterhouse, in an Al-Mushir from 1974. I consider Streefland’s study one of the most detailed ethnographies of a Pakistani Christian community. At a table across some Pakistani students were discussing what seemed to be a commentary to the Bible. I feel a sense of anxiety creeping up. If Streefland’s ethnography of a community of “Christian Punjabi Sweepers” in Karachi was received this way, how will people read my study about Pakistani Christians? What sensitivities will I fail to understand? Will my research actually aid Pakistani Christian reflection or am I merely “utilizing” this “minority group” to get a degree? To be honest, before a month of living and working in Pakistan had passed I already came to understand how little I could do to “help in this situation” of Pakistani Christians. While I may at times have felt an insider to the Christian Study Centre, I have always been and will always be an outsider to Pakistani Christianity. As such, simply arriving at some understanding of a fraction of the “Christian community” of Pakistan already posed enough of a challenge. Looking back, I have to acknowledge that it was rather the reverse process: Pakistani Christians helping me. Helping me to understand their sense of being a “minority group.” Helping me to see the sensitivities they vii experience in everyday life. And most of all, helping me to appreciate the creative and strategic efforts they employ as Christians in an Islamic Republic. Therefore, it should not surprise anyone that I owe much credit to others for much of what is written in this dissertation. While writing this dissertation may have felt solitary or even lonely at times, the end result can only be described as a collaborative effort. The research project that led to this dissertation was a collaboration between Kerk in Actie, a Dutch non-profit organization affiliated to the Protestant Church of the Netherlands, Martha Frederiks, professor of the Study of World Christianity and the first supervisor of this PhD position, and the aforementioned Christian Study Centre (CSC). I am not only grateful to this collaboration for giving me the opportunity and confidence to take up this position, but also for the orientation and continuous guidance this collaboration has offered me. The research focus on Pakistani Christian identity was largely developed in this collaboration and many people involved in it have directed my attention to Pakistani Christian agency. I am fully aware however, that the institutional ties that have enabled this research go back many decades and are often older than myself. The trust and kindness with which I was welcomed at CSC can only be perceived against the background of other Dutch women and men who were employed by Kerk in Actie, or its predecessors, to work with CSC before me. As a result, I am grateful to Dick Kleinhesselink, Gryt Bouma, Harry Mintjes, Jaap Kraan, Jan Slomp and Willem Jansen for sharing their expertise on Pakistani Christianity and Islam with me, but also for their part in establishing convivial relations between Dutch and Pakistani churches. It should be obvious that the contribution of Kerk in Actie’s current staff to the development of this dissertation also deserves a mention. From the very beginning I have experienced immense support and confidence from Rommie Nauta and Feije Duim. I remember well how Feije Duim introduced me to various Christians and Christian organizations during my fist visit of Pakistan. With every introduction he seemed to inject trust and kindness into the relationship. The many viii enlightening conversations about Christian-Muslim relations and Christianity in Pakistan with the staff of the mission department of Kerk in Actie during the last years have undoubtedly left a mark
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