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Pluralism, civil society and subaltern counterpublics : reflecting on contemporary challenges in India through the case-study of the Pasmanda movement


Document type: report
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Abstract: In this paper, which is based on his Doctoral research at the Centre for the Studies of Culture and Society (CSCS) in Bangalore, India and the Graduate School of the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Ansari makes new meaningful connections between international contemporary academic debates on pluralism and democratic social transformation on the one hand and discourses circulating within Indian subaltern spaces on the other. Through a particular case study of ‘the pasmanda counterpublic’, Ansari aims to enrich the debates within civil society as well as open new possibilities for engagement with social change. The paper consists of three parts. The first part offers a meaningful point of departure in the conceptual context in which Ansari launches his discussion on the pasmanda counterpublic and its significance for rethinking contemporary challenges of social change. The second part of the paper locates the pasmanda counterpublic in the ongoing and historical debate with a account of the emergence of new subaltern counterpublics in India and a concise genealogy of the modernity of traditional identities applied by both the colonial and post-colonial Indian state, with a special focus on caste. The third part of the paper is primarily based on resources produced by the pasmanda movement itself and discusses the ways in which the movement deals with religious pluralism, social reform within the Muslim community and social justice in India and finally sketches how the process of globalization is currently received by the pasmanda community.
Authors: Ansari, K.A.
Series Title: Pluralism Working Paper
Country: India
Category: Research
Serial number: 9
ISSN: 1879-7172
Keywords: civil society , religion
Language: eng
Organization: Hivos – Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation
Organization: Kosmopolis Institute (University for Humanistics) , Center for Religious & Cross-Cultural Studies (Gadjah Mada Graduate School) , Centre for the Study of Culture and Society , Cross Cultural Foundation of Uganda
PAGE: 36
Place: The Hague [etc.]
Publisher: Hivos [etc.]
Year: 2011
Region: South Asia
Right: © 2011 Hivos [etc.] This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Netherlands License.
Subject: Culture, Society and Religion
Title: Pluralism, civil society and subaltern counterpublics : reflecting on contemporary challenges in India through the case-study of the Pasmanda movement