Postmodernism, Civic Engagement, and Ethnic Conflict: A Passage to India

Abstract

By far newest development in study of ethnic conflict and nationalism is rise of postmodern approaches.' What distinguishes postmodernism from mainstream social sciences is, minimally, a twofold claim that power relations are deeply implicated in formation of and that much of what passes for objective or in human sciences is basically a narrative constructed by elites and promoted by institutions of power.2 Alternative forms of were suppressed in for they were associated with premodern forms of knowing and patronized by those who had very little power in society. Postmodern views have serious implications for research on postcolonial societies and groups, such as women, tribals, peasants, and minorities. In effect, their principal substantive claim is that existing about the marginal was produced by those who were privileged enough to produce it: colonial masters and native elite. The subaltern groups were rarely selfrepresented. As a result, available historical about postcolonial societies and marginal peoples is so contaminated with misconceptions and condescension that it must be deconstructed or, more simply, reformulated. The study of postcolonial societies has been profoundly influenced by these formulations. Among disciplines going through the ferment are history, anthropology and literature.' With partial exception of political philosophy, political science has paid little attention to postmodernism.4 This silence is no longer sustainable. Much of contemporary work on identities and ethnic conflict is inspired by postmodernism, and analyses of representation, narratives, discourses, contextualization, essentialization, problematization, and deconstruction are fast becoming an important mode of argumentation in conferences, seminars, and writings on ethnicity.5 This paper seeks to engage postmodern literature on Hindu-Muslim conflict in India.' Three arguments, combining Indian specificities with a postmodern intellectual sensibility, have so far been made.7 First, there is no scientific knowledge