Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; Springer
Published: November 25, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780230603851
Subjects: Political Freedom & Security - General; Political Ideologies - Nationalism; Political Science / Political Freedom & Security / General; Political Science; Politics / Current Events; Politics/International Relations
Description: Hindutva in India is a chauvinist and majoritarian political ideology that conjures up the image of a peaceful Hindu Self vis-a-vis the threatening minority Other. It is porno-nationalism in its obsessive preoccupation with the predatory sexuality of the putative Muslim figure and the dangers to the integrity of the Hindu bodies. The proponents of Hindutva mobilize and generate negative stereotypes of Islam and putative Muslims to legitimize violence against actual Muslims living in India. Adopting a critical ethnographic approach, this book investigates myriad ways in which the discourses of culture, insecurity, gender, identity, and violence intersect in Hindu nationalism's reactionary and right-wing politics of fear and imagination.