The nation and its discontents: A critique of nationalism in South Asian literature

This dissertation concerns the influence of nationalist ideology in the literature of disparate social groups in the Indian subcontinent. The birth of the Indian nation, following two centuries of colonial rule, held the promise of inclusion and development for all sectors of society. However, in the process of nation building, the needs and concerns of various groups are systematically marginalized. Nationalist ideology maintains its dominance by appeasing disparate groups constituting the nation at the same time as suppressing their actual interests and aspirations. The dominance of nationalist ideology, however, is not uncontested. The literature emerging from the subcontinent offers a rich record of the experience of marginalization of subaltern groups, their ideologies of resistance and visions of an alternative order. My critique of nationalism is based on the representation of the experiences and ideologies of four subaltern groups---women, religious minorities, "backward" castes and tribes, and emigrants---in the literature of the subcontinent.; The literary texts included in the project span from the early twentieth century---the period when nationalist consciousness was crystallized---to our present postcolonial period. I begin with a discussion of a novel by Rabindranath Tagore that sheds light on the complex ideological negotiations undertaken by the native elite in its attempt at constructing a paradigm of womanhood in the interests of the nation state. The nationalist appropriation of the gender issue at the formative stages of nationalist ideology paves the way for further explorations of the impact of the ideology on other aspects of civic society at a later stage, when nationalism gained its dominance. The discussion of the literature in the chapters that follow, representing religious minorities (Saadat Hasan Manto and Taslima Nasrin among others) and economically oppressed groups (Mahashweta Devi) highlight their oppositional relationship with the nation state. Finally, I locate a coherent critique of nationalism and alternative visions of social solidarity in contemporary Indian English literature (Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh).