Cultural Nationalism in India Aditi Athreya* Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Maharashtra, India
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thropolog An y Athreya, Anthropol 2016, 4:2 Anthropology DOI: 10.4172/2332-0915.1000165 ISSN: 2332-0915 PerspectiveResearch Article OpenOpen Access Access Cultural Nationalism in India Aditi Athreya* Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Maharashtra, India Introduction nationalism can be defined as either devotion (political or emotional) to one’s nation or as a policy of national independence [6]. Therefore, a The concept of Nationalism is linked to the idea of sovereignty nation, or the idea of nation must exist in order for a national identity and hence; it has to be associated to the principle of self-determination to be founded. [1]. In the 19th century, John Stuart Mill argued that nationalist movements were dependent on ethnicity, language and culture. These To better ality, one can also use Anderson’s ideas of a nation which were the basis of the demand for statehood. While this stood true for is an ‘imagined political community’ [7]. Thus is if a nation is considered most nationalistic movements, Hurst Hanum of the Fletcher School as something imaginative, the very elements that are required for it to of Law and Diplomacy remarked that in this era, the notion of self- exist can be a myth. Even if a community does not share a common determination was used by groups to divide rather than unify territory language, religion or ethnicity, a nation is formed on the basis of a [2]. The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire can be used as an strong formed identity. Anderson used the term ‘imagined’ because example. members of even the smallest nations will not know everyone and yet they will be aware of their image of the entire communion. It was at the peak of colonialism in the mid-19th century that the colonised world witnessed the rise in nationalistic sentiments with the From an anthropological perspective, Max Weber speaks about emphasis on the idea of a common language, religion, ethnicity etc. ethnic groups that are formed on the belief of common descent. He While the western idea of nationalism aims to set up a uni-nation, discusses that there is a sense of affinity to a particular nation which uni-culture dictum, nationalism operates on different principles in relies on community living [8]. To connect the idea of community a multi-national, pluralist context (for the purpose of this paper, the living to the notions of state formation and nationalism, it is necessary term pluralist and multi-nationalist will be used interchangeably). to discuss Michael Hechter’s theory of nationalism. According to him, Nationalism had a dual role to play in the last century through the nationalism constitutes of several political activities whose aim is to many nationalistic upheavals leading to decolonization of most of create political boundaries of the nation that are culturally ‘distinctive Latin America, Africa and Asia. At a macro level, nationalism was collectivity aspiring towards self-governance [9]. While studying viewed as being anti-colonial with aims of liberating the country from Nationalism, it is equally important to distinguish between civic and oppressive rule and establishing a sovereign state while at a more local ethnic ties of nations. According to Stephan Shulman, the most primary level, nationalism was perceived to be a form of cultural consciousness difference between the Western and the Eastern European Countries, that aimed to protect different cultural communities within their the former developed as civic nations while the latter as ethnic nations homeland [3]. [10]. While ethnic nations can be characterised by extending kinship principle to the imagined community of the nation, the former can Nationalism in the third world countries was and is a response to be defined by common political values and loyalties shared by the colonialism and it must be noted that most pluralist nations evolved in population of a sovereign territory [11]. To elaborate, the famous the Asian, African and Latin American Continents, where colonialism Czech Scholar Hans Kohn in his book, argued that nationalism in the played a very important role in the formation of these states through the West, primarily in countries like France and England were primarily recent historical past but failed to take into account the multi-cultural political. He discussed that these ideas of nation and nationalism were set up of these colonies. The colonial power played an important inspired by enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality. Nationalism role in creating or fostering identities to ensure control by using the in the western context struggled against dynastic rule and equated policy of divide and rule while the process of state formation during citizenship with membership in the nation. Hence, in this model, the the process of independence (from the colonial power) ignored and state usually precedes the creation and development of the nation [12]. even curbed the multiculturalist set up to create a single identity. The colonisers created provincial boundaries which barely corresponded to On the other hand, in the Eastern European and in the colonial context, where these regions were comparatively backward, the notion the cultural boundaries of communities. This arrangement led to a kind of nationalism arose with little or no cultural and ethnic boundaries. (The of conflict between culture and territory and eventually led to one sub vast Ottoman empire for example) Here, Kohn argues that nationalism nationality forming a pan national identity and dominating the others had to struggle to “redraw political boundaries in conformity with will be discussed in the subsequent paragraphs. ethnographic demands” [12]. Considering this statement, one could The deaI of Nationalism say that nations in the East were created on the basis of volk (people) The study of nationalism is important to analyse world politics today, but to understand the notion of nationalism, one must look into *Corresponding author: Aditi Athreya, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, the idea of a nation. The concept of a nation can be traced back to the Maharashtra, India, Tel: 020-66861200; E-mail: [email protected] Peace of Westphalia in 1648. One must remember that even prior to Received: April 28, 2016; Accepted June 01, 2016; Published June 04, 2016 the treaty; political boundaries were being redefined throughout the Citation: Athreya A (2016) Cultural Nationalism in India. Anthropol 4: 165. European Continent. After the treaty, the concept of sovereignty was doi:10.4172/2332-0915.1000165 introduced when Protestantism was officially recognised as a different religion from Catholicism [4]. Thus, in most contexts, a “nation is a Copyright: © 2016 Athreya A. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted community of people that can be organised around the idea of self- use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and determination” [5]. Keeping this particular idea of nation in mind, source are credited. Anthropol ISSN: 2332-0915 ANTP, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 2 • 1000165 Citation: Athreya A (2016) Cultural Nationalism in India. Anthropol 4: 165. doi:10.4172/2332-0915.1000165 Page 2 of 5 than the idea of a citizenship. In the Indian context, this idea can be features of collective character and mentality also form an important consolidated with the idea of creating an “Akhand Bharat” that can aspect of nationalism. Renowned Anthropologist Margaret Mead was literally translated to undivided India. This notion revolved around studying the ‘national character’ of the Americans and the English reuniting the ancient Indian civilisation by fighting the British. In the when she came to the conclusion that cultural values plays a significant modern scenario, many right wing organisations including several role in the integration of people belonging to a particular nation [18]. factions of the ruling Party, Bhartiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Hence, one could say that every nation has certain specific cultural Party) has staunch advocates of this idea which propagates the unison tactics that differ from the other. To quote Jelena Petkovic, “cultural of present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, theories adopt the stand that a nation is formed through cultural Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Having briefly examined the ideas of continuity and thus the issue of national identity is almost inseparable nation and nationalism, one must remember that there are several from the issue of cultural identity of a people” [19]. This means ways in which nationalism can manifest itself. This essay will explore that a cultural national identity reveals itself as an attachment to an cultural nationalism in India with the help of two case studies. Before individual’s particular culture. Hence, with the increase in the notion of proceeding further, it is important to study the idea of sub-nationalism individual consciousness and with the development and improvement which will be discussed in the next section. of the channels of communication, human civilisation has become more aware of the differences that reside between them. Once, one The Nation of Sub-Nationalism could say that while culture binds a group of people together, it also has Before entering into a deeper discussion it is important to discuss the ability to separate them. the idea of sub-nationality. According to Prerna Singh, the main This is the reason why there is a need for adequate formulation difference is that the dimension of the desire for political control of of cultural politics of each nation is indicated. In the context of a territorial homeland necessarily manifests itself in the desire for contemporary world issues, can lead to the preservation of a feeling sovereign statehood in the case of nationalism, but it could imply of necessity to preserve a communities’ cultural identities. Failure an aspiration for an independent country or the pursuit of greater to do so can lead to cultural and social consequences of the people.