India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality (Critical Histories) [Hardcover]

Sanjib Baruah (Author)

Book Description

Series: Critical Histories | Publication Date: June 1, 1999

In an era of failing states and ethnic conflict, violent challenges from dissenting groups in the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, several African countries, and India give cause for grave concern in much of the world. And it is in India where some of the most turbulent of these clashes have been taking place. One resulted in the creation of Pakistan, and militant separatist movements flourish in Kashmir, Punjab, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Assam. In India Against Itself, Sanjib Baruah focuses on the insurgency in Assam in order to explore the politics of subnationalism.

Baruah offers a bold and lucid interpretation of the political and economic history of Assam from the time it became a part of British India and a leading tea-producing region in the nineteenth century. He traces the history of tensions between pan-Indianism and Assamese subnationalism since the early days of Indian nationalism. The region's insurgencies, human rights abuses by government security forces and insurgents, ethnic violence, and a steady slide toward illiberal democracy, he argues, are largely due to India's formally federal, but actually centralized governmental structure. Baruah argues that in multiethnic polities, loose federations not only make better democracies, in the era of globalization they make more economic sense as well.

This challenging and accessible work addresses a pressing contemporary problem with broad relevance for the history of nationality while offering an important contribution to the study of ethnic conflict. A native of northeast India, Baruah draws on a combination of scholarly research, political engagement, and an insider's knowledge of Assamese culture and society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Descriptive and prescriptive, subjective and objective, India Against Itself will stimulate critical thought at a historical moment when political and economic forces are propelling India toward a looser federalism. And it will provide a base for comparison with ethnic politics in other contexts from Bosnia to Kashmir."—Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph, University of Chicago

"An important contribution to the literature on ethnic conflict."—Choice

"This brilliant book, meticulously researched in the history of subnationalism and cultural politics in northeast India, is the best critique of general theories of agonistic democracy that I have encountered."—Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

About the Author

Sanjib Baruah is Professor and Chair of Political Studies at Bard College.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081223491X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812234916
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,257,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can a nation be against itself or people make it so?, September 14, 2000

By 

Veena Garyali (MANHASSET, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality (Critical Histories) (Hardcover)

"India against itself" is a scholarly book written by a person who has witnessed, felt and seen first hand what is happening in north-eastern India and he feels passionately about it. The author himself is aware of this and wonders "whether eliminating the personal refereces whould necessarily enrich the text". The struggle of the author trying to stay objective and detached is apparent in many sections of the book. However his personal passion and pain is equally transparent, especially in the end of chapter seven he refers to a song by Bhupen Hazarika " There is neither joy or sorrow.." He makes a case for changing the basic political structure in India, empowering the states more. His belief that a loose system of federalism will work in a country like India can be argued for he offers an utopian view what he and many of us would like to see happen but does not offer many suggestions how to get there. If read superfically, one can easily make the erroneus assumption that the author is advocating for autonomy of Assam and that his sympathies lie with the insurgents. Read carefully one can feel the pathos and his hope for a better India with a stronger democracy rather than a fractured nation. It is not a easy book to read for a person unfamiliar with the academic side of political science which essentially limits the number of readers. Regardless of whether it is an entirely objective view, it offers food for thought and a forum for serious debate about the current state of our "nation-state".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Monograph on Assam and Northeast India, January 5, 2005

By 

C. Baker "cbaker" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality (Critical Histories) (Hardcover)

Baruah has written an excellent monograph on the political turmoil in Assam and other parts of Northeast India. He clearly explains the political, cultural, religious, economic, and ethnic roots of the insurgencies. I learned a great deal about the socio-economic history of Assam and how the current political strife developed out of this history and the relationship - or lack of relationship one could say - between Assam and the rest of India. Beyond historiography, Baruah explains how state policies have fostered the separatist movements and how different policies may have produced a different outcome. And while this is an academic approach to the topic, it is very readable and very well organized.