REL 200 Unit 3 Exam

India

• associated w documentary

• largely considered to be both the world’s largest democracy & free before Modi became prime minister in 2015

• majority Hindu country, but still has a minority Muslim population

• huge divide across the country b/w Hindus and Muslims

Narendra Modi

• associated w documentary

• Prime minister of India

• member of BJP and RSS (para-military wing of BJP invested in Nazis)

• believes in Hindu nationalism and Hinduizing India

• supports violence against Muslims

Pink Revolution

• associated w documentary

• export of beef and meat production increases by 44% from 2009-2013 when Modi comes to power

• Hindus regard cows as sacred and have antipathy towards eating cow meat in Hindu context

• Some Hindus eat meat except for cows, while other Hindus strictly eat no meat

• backlash and hate toward those who eat meat

• over 300 people killed, majority of who were Muslim

BJP

• associated w documentary

• political party in India, aligned with Modi

• promotes Hindu nationalism

Kashmir

• associated w documentary

• made up of the majority of Muslims

• marred by terrorism and conflicts w Pakistan

• experienced communications blackouts

• used to be an autonomous state before Modi takes control w the military and splits it into two territories

Hindus

• associated w documentary

• Modi wants to make India a Hindu nation

• considers cows to be sacred

• targeting Muslims w violence

• Hindu religious parliament believe Muslims should be eradicated from earth

Muslims

• associated w documentary

• genocide against Muslims in India

• experienced aggression, violence, and threats from Indian government and Hindus

National Registry of Citizens

• associated w documentary

• registry that begins in 2003 designed to identify and deport illegal immigrants

Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)

• associated w documentary

• put into act by Modi

• allows citizenship for people who are not Muslim and disallows citizenship for those are Muslim

• says that those who are Muslim are in India illegally and are not considered citizens

• those labeled as noncitizens become stateless

Nation/Nationalism

• associated w Baker

• a nation is a kind of discourse and an “imagined community”

• Benedict Anderson argued that nations are large groups of people have to be imagined bc they exist too large a scale to be directly experienced by the people who make up the nation

• nationalism is about emphasizing cultural unity and cultural distinctiveness so what makes our nation different and probably better from another nation

• nationalism often involves the desire for a separate and independent nation, driven by the idea of a shared culture or language and the belief in the superiority of one’s nation against others

• nationalism is relatively new and more likely to be exclusive than patriotism

• nationalism is promoting some idea about a common thing that is holding the nation together

Durkheim

• associated w Baker

• he write about the national flag as the modern equivalent of the totem

• the national flag, like the totem, was something that soldiers would fight and die for

• he points to his awareness of the power of the nation as the defining sacred thing in modern life

“Imagined Community”

• associated w Baker

• Benedict Anderson referred to a nation as an “imagined community”

• a nation is a distinct kind of imagined community, linkage of population and political territory, ruled by defined principles of themselves that are distinct from other groups

• nation states and nationalist movements in promotion of what a nation is and what a common bond is

• different things like language and culture make us see ourselves as members of certain communities

Religious Nationalism

• associated w Baker

• term used when the idea of what holds us together is claimed to be a common religious identity

• two examples include Hindu (referred to a Hindutra, or “muscular”) nationalism and the KKK

Baker

• talks about the 20th century KKK

• wrote a book called “Christianity in the Klan”

• argues that “for the Klan, Christianity constructed nationalism, and the flag and cross were artifacts of both religious faith and devotion to the nation”

• Nation/Nationalism

• Durkheim

• “Imagined Community”

• Religious Nationalism

• KKK

• Flag/Cross

• Public Schools

KKK

• associted w Baker

• two klans

• original klan was organized after the Civil War in 1860s by Confederate veterans in Tennessee. Their goal was to restore white supremacy after the end of slavery through violence aimed at newly freed black people, disappears in 1880s

• 2nd klan organized in 1915 in Georgia by a former preacher, membership exceeds 4 million people in 1920s, important symbols like the burning cross, still continue to wear white robes, participate in marches aross country to territorze people, last remnants temporarily disband in 1940s, comes back in southern states in 1960s w the Civil Rights Movement, still around today

• beloved in Protestant White Christian nationalism, excluded Catholics

• they don’t see themselves as immigrants

Flag/Cross

• associated w Baker

• the symbol of the nation is intertwined w the Christian cross

Public Schools

• associated w Baker

What questions/critiques might we raise about religious nationalism framing?

• associted w Baker

• Hurd be concerned with identifying religious conflicts as over identifying or overcoding the conflict as a solely religious conflict (conflict b/w Muslims & Hindus in India), wants to overstate or simplify the conflict in making it solely about religion

• in both the examples of Muslims & Hindus in India and the KKK, question if there are ways to think about religion that could be made into a racial thing