Nation and Narration

Week 1:
Module: 1
The Idea of Nation: An Introduction
This module aims to provide the students with an overview of the origin of the idea of nation and nationalism. It explores the socio-cultural situations which gave rise to the idea of nation and the nationalist sentiment in Europe. The following are the major areas that will be covered in this module.

• The factors responsible for the origin of nation and national consciousness in Europe
  • A. Disintegration of the religious communities based on sacred language.
  • B. Disintegration of the dynastic realm.
  • C. The emergence of print capitalism.
  • D. The emergence of homogenous empty time.

• The definition of the idea of nation
  • A. Nation as an imagined community
  • B. State and nation.
  • C. Nation and the cultural narrative.
  • D. National boundaries and the importance of cartography.

• Nation and imperialism
  • A. Patriotism and the racist sentiment.
  • B. Explorations of the non-European world and the identification of cultural self and the cultural other.
  • C. Orientalist narrative and the image of the cultural other.

Module: 2
Demystifying the Ideas of Nation and Nationalism
This module of week 1 aims to demystify the idea of nation by addressing some of the misconceptions about ideas of nation and nationalism. By addressing these misconceptions, this module helps the students develop a clearer understanding of these concepts in the Indian context. The following are some of the major questions that this module intends to deal with.

• Are all nations modern?
• Can we trace the presence of a nation in the precolonial period?
• Are national boundaries accidental and flexible?
• Is there a difference between the princely states and the modern idea of nation?
• Did the idea of nation loose its relevance in the age of globalization?

Week 2:
Module: 1
The Idea of Nation in the Indian Context:An Overview
Closely related to the concept of nationalism in Europe was the idea of modernity which was marked by a strong sense of rationality, scientific temper, a transition from feudalism to capitalism and a profound resistance to the antiquated beliefs of the Middle Ages. It goes without saying that the two concepts which functioned as the bedrock of nationalism in Europe were progress and modernity. The idea of nationalism and the resultant sense of modernity did not remain confined to the geographical boundaries of Europe. They travelled from Europe to the European colonies in the Afro-Asian world thereby giving a new turn to the socio-cultural histories of those places. The initial conception with respect to the ideas of nationalism and the modernity in Afro-Asian countries was that they were blind imitations of their European models. But, this canonical notion with respect to the idea of nationalism and modernity in the Afro-Asian countries was later provenhistorically problematic by theorists like Partha Chatterjee. One can identify at least two distinct streams of thought in the history of colonial modernity in India. One is the history of attempts to assimilate with the modular forms of modernity offered by the Empire and the other, the history of struggles to invent an alternative modernity. This module explores these two forms of maternities in India. The following are the major ideas that are going to be covered in this section.

• An overview of the idea of modernity
  • A. What is modernity?
  • B. The relation between modernity and the nationalist sentiment.
  • C. Modernity and the markers of the reformed self.
  • D. The Empire’s claims of modernity and reality
  • E. Provincializing Europe

• Modernity and the Anglicist approach
  • A. Modernity as the essential mark of the reformed nationalist sentiment
  • B. Orientalist knowledge and the sense of inferiority within the natives.
  • C. The desire for a reformed self
  • D. Colonial education and the sense of anglicised modernity.
  • E. Colonial mimicry and the sense of disillusionment.

• Modernity and the Nativist Approach
  • A. Colonial historiography and the nation’s cultural past.
  • B. Early/Hindu India ideological base of modern nation.
  • C. Gandhi and the resistance to modernity
  • D. Tagore and ‘non-nation.’

• Alternative Modernity and Indian Nationalism
  • A. The ideological underpinnings of alternative modernity.
  • B. The ‘thematic and problematic of alternative modernity'.
  • C. The three moments and alternative modernity—'The moment of departure,’ ‘the moment of manoeuvre’ and ‘the moment of arrival.’

Module: 2
Nation and the construction of nationalist identity
Even before the political struggle for the formation of a nation began, Indian society was imagining its national identity in a private cultural sphere. Though the state was in the hands of colonizers, the attempts to form a new nationalist identity were made by the new, the western-educated middle class in the country. Even though Western education was the primary catalyst for these changes, the middle class did not blindly accept the modular forms of modernity and national identity given by the West. In other words, it was modern, but not completely western. It was a curious combination of western and eastern values. One should note that the mixing of the eastern and western values to develop an alternative idea of modernity was not arbitrary. The conception was that it was in the material strength which helped the European countries subjugate non-European peoples and to impose their dominance over the whole world.” To overcome this domination, many nationalist intellectuals believed that the Indians must learn the superior techniques of Western materiality. This did not mean imitating the West in every aspect of life. Though the nationalists strongly believed that in the material domain, they were not ready to imitate the Western values in the domestic realm. It endorsed the view “that as long as we take care to retain the spiritual distinctiveness of our culture, we could make all the compromises and adjustments necessary to adapt ourselves to the requirements of a modern material world without losing our true identity” (Chatterjee, “The Nationalist Resolution” 238). This module aims to explore how the various socio cultural institutions in the country underwent an ontological change during late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under the influence of the new nationalist thought. The following are the major ideas that are going to be covered in this section.

• Nation and its modern nuclear family.
• Nation and the changing domestic interior.
• Nation and the new women.
• Nation and the new dress-code for women.
• Nation and the adoption of companionate marriage.

Week 3:
Module: 1
Nation and the Reformation of Religion
Although the alternative modernity that the elite intelligentsia in the country developed laid considerable emphasis on the Hindu tradition, they never attempted a blind imitation of the Hindu culture as it existed in the early nineteenth century. The middle-class intelligentsia felt that “if India needs to progress, the archaic beliefs and outmoded social institutions are to be reformed. So, the reformation of the outdated tradition, especially the Hindu tradition, was the first phase of the development of the alternative modernity. It was strongly believed that the Hindu tradition in its pure form was ‘modern’ and ‘glorious,’ and the Muslim intervention during the medieval period ruined the glory of the Indian civilization. The following are the major areas that this module intends to cover.
Module:2
Nation and the Nationalisation of Literature and History
An important category that underwent a radical ontological and epistemological change under the influence of the new nationalist thought was literature andhistory. This module explores the politics of the constitution of the nationalist literary canon and the attempt to create a nationalist history for the nation. The following are the major ideas that will be covered in this module.
Week 4:
Nation and the Political Resistance
Though the desire to achieve an alternative sense of modernity later coincided with anti-imperialist struggles, modernity was initially thought to be a situation that can be achieved only under the careful eyes of the Empire. It was initially believed that the continuation of the colonial rule was necessary to reform the ‘adulterated’ Indian tradition and restore it to its erstwhile glory and purity. This was primarily because of the reformist initiatives previously taken by the British government in the colony. This fascination for the continuation of the foreign rule was not a long lived one, since the elite nationalist intelligentsia soon realized that absolute sovereignty over the territory was necessary to effect a complete cultural reform in the colony. This module will discuss certain select aspects of the nationalist movement.
Week 5:
The Fractured Identity of Nation
While discussing the concept of ‘nation’, one needs to remember that ‘nation’ is not a homogeneous concept. This is visible through the anti-caste movements that ran parallel to nationalist movements in India. We will look at the anti-caste movement primarily in two ways: by tracing a chronological trajectory of anti caste movements wherein dalit movement is represented a counter-hegemonic movement arising in contradiction to the brahmanical nationalist movement; and by focusing on lives of the leaders who shaped these movements and continue to influence contemporary Dalit politics. The historicizing will then proceed to the post-independence era through imbrications of revision and retrieval with a view to trace a continuity in Dalit political thought. We will draw upon dalit leaders such as Phule, Ambedkar, and Periyar, to explore their articulation of oppression and erasure in culture and history. Simultaneously, we will also compare and contrastthe interpretations of some of the major issues (such as gender) that were taken up by both social reformers and anti-caste leaders.
Week 6:
Women and the Construction of Identity: Women’s Autobiographies
The first section will focus on social reformation and the construction of women. This section will deal with the centralization of ‘women’s question’ in the social reformist movement and its implications. It will look into how and why women were made coterminous with the ideas of nation, nationalism, and progress. Thissection will elucidate on matters concerning marriage, family, widowhood and sati. The section will also elaborate on the identity that women were trying to constitute for themselves through a reading of women’s autobiographies.
The second section section will map the history of feminist movement in India both in terms of mainstream history of Indian feminism and the marginalized perspectives. As such, this section will elaborate on women’s participation in nationalist movements and will also look at how women transform the idea of ‘nation’. As mentioned in the earlier modules, nationalism is not a homogeneous concept. We have seen how ‘nation’ is formed through its juxtaposition vis-à-vis the colonizers, as well as, the fractured internal identity. In this section, we will explore how women’s movements (women-led and women-participated) engage with this idea of nation and lead to multiple constructions of identities. We will look at major women leaders and also women-led movements.
Week 7:
Nation and/in Popular Imagination
The making of nation largely depends on its construction as an imaginary entity. The ‘idea of nation’, as it is popularly known, is solidified and implemented through ideologies, symbols, popular representations, institutions, etc. Hence, any discussion on nation also needs to incorporate the making of nation and its representational formats. This module will comprise the creation of ‘nation’ in popular media, films, and sports. This section will include analysis of many ‘texts’ and their discursive contributions. We will be cautious in identifying the instances of homogeneity and will consciously bring in representations that defy such universalism.
Week 8:
The beginning and ending of a Nation
The previous modules have discussed the making of a nation through the political, social, cultural, and representational aspects. While a nation is marked by the historical moment of its creation, the idea of a ‘nation’ is rooted in the notion of citizenship, or who is/can be part of a nation. The final module of this course will delineate some of the important debates surrounding the idea of citizenship in India. In this context, we will explore the historical moments of Partition (starting from 1905), literary and autobiographical representations of Partition, and their implications regarding belonging, displacement, patriotism, identity, and so on. This module will explore a nation-state's beginning and ending through its myriad implications. It will specifically address how Partition(s) impacted different groups of people differently. And how, the new nation, struggled to turn colonial subjects into national citizens.