Indian Exceptionalism: Colonial Stereotypes and Postcolonial Realities

Re: # 15

Hamid Unkil,

With all due respect, several readers on chowk's front page can understand this essay. Why is it necessary to insult the author and readership?

Re: # 7

dash_dot,

..... thank you for saving me the trouble of exposing this 'unmitigated tripe' ... i say, balderdash!

... you ask why the author does not use "simple vocabulary rather than trying to mesmerise others with long winded sentences "...... how else would these worthless social 'scientists' justify their nonsense - if they put their simple-minded ideas into simple words that everyone could understand, they would be quickly exposed as charlatans and loose their subsidies .......

btw, anti history-feel free to point out how this interactor board seems to perform exceptionalism!

Rohit,

Can you discuss the following paragraph:

"The long and short of it is that the shifting, elusive, and ultimately illusory center of Indian exceptionalism survives unscathed and uninterrogated. From the far right to the extreme left, many different voices in Indian society collude in preserving the illusion. My take on it: Indian society may be exceptional, but only to the extent that any and every other society in the world is also exceptional. Dismantling the myth of uniqueness, while preserving an emphasis on the richness and particularity of Indian social practices and customs, may be a first step toward thinking about the sources of violence in Indian society. We have only to look at the dangers of other exceptionalisms (or earlier incarnations of our own) to recommend such an approach."

My reading of it is that "Indian exceptionalism" is a dynamic that is a component of the dominant narrative voice within India? In essence, this dominant voice performs not only the constructionism of exceptionalism, but marginalizes any other voice that might challenge, interrogate, shift against this voice.

If this reading is correct, something happens to marginalized voices within their interaction with the dominant voice (institutionally, culturally, artistically, etc.)-what is it? Finally, can you give one or two examples of voices marginalised by exceptionalism?

Thanks for the interesting read!

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Rohit Chopra writes [....any number of Hindu nationalist initiatives in India and the diaspora to censor or harass voices opposed to them; the harrasment of artistes on charges of obscenity;....]

The harassment of artists started with the banning of "Satanic Verses" in India. You couldn't/wouldn't say that because of YOUR bias but had to reference a BBC article talking about the harassment of that M F (hey, Chowkidars, try and ban me for that!) Hussain and Richard Gere.

Stop making exceptions for Muslims in India first.

Re neembu #1

[What is particularly interesting is that this is also a transnational construction that taps into the "Model Minority Myth" in the West. This is particularly significant when we see some elements of Indian communities distance themselves from Muslim and Pakistan immigrant communities post 9/11 and the attendent domestic and international policies of the US.]

Wanting to nuke Mecca and to deport all Muslims back to their countries of origin post-9/11 has nothing to do with buying into the Model Minority Myth and everything to do with common sense.

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fcuk! I have that #6 in word and I swear that to at the end is of in the word document! Chowk seems to a have a mind of its own!

typos in #4 corrected

what a lot of gobble-gobbledegook - .... this is what comes out from a social scientist's mind....words which carry little meaning and utterly worthless - and you wonder why people dislike/or have such little respect for social scientists.

e.g:


"The long and short of it is that the shifting, elusive, and ultimately illusory center of Indian exceptionalism survives unscathed and uninterrogated."

WTF does this mean?...its a whole string of words which are essentially meaningless. Okay it may make some sense to the subsidised lot in the social sciences...but really how far is rooted in the real world. In one word " bollocks".


" My take on it: Indian society may be exceptional, but only to the extent that any and every other society in the world is also exceptional."

Oh Dear please tell us something new. This "insight" is well known. Every society wants to preserve for itself what is has already got and garner more for itself. How about using simple vocabulary rather than trying to mesmerise others with long winded sentences which only serve make yourselves sound rather abstruse and not even obtuse!


" Dismantling the myth of uniqueness, while preserving an emphasis on the richness and particularity of Indian social practices and customs, may be a first step toward thinking about the sources of violence in Indian society."

Yeah! That very same "emphasis on the richness and particularity of Indian social practices and customs" - could be the "the sources of violence in Indian society." - Come man you can do better than this.

Such a load unmitigated tripe - and you want us to swallow this.

And then " We have only to look at the dangers of other exceptionalisms (or earlier incarnations of our own) to recommend such an approach."

big bloody deal!

I am sorry but this article is an unmitigated disaster zone. Riddled with gobble-gobbledegook. Words meant to impress, but carry no meaning whatsoever. What a waste to time energy and bandwidth!

my oversight in #5 ..... should have been just Bahri!

oh dear...you are really a social scientist......well what said holds true even more....

BTW do you know Prof Bahri-Petraglia?

what a lot of gobble-gobbledegook - .... this is what comes out from a social scientists mind....words which carry little meaning - and you wonder people dislike social scientists so much.

e.g:


"The long and short of it is that the shifting, elusive, and ultimately illusory center of Indian exceptionalism survives unscathed and uninterrogated."

WTF does this mean?...its a whole string of words which are essentially meaningless. Okay it makes some sense to the subsidise lot in the social sciences...but really how far is rooted in the real world. In one word " bollocks".


" My take on it: Indian society may be exceptional, but only to the extent that any and every other society in the world is also exceptional."

OH Dear please tell us something new. This "insight" is well known. Every society wants to preserve for itself what is has already got and garner more for itself. How about using simple vocabulary rather than trying to mesmerise others with long winded sentences which only serve make yourselves sound rather abstruse.


" Dismantling the myth of uniqueness, while preserving an emphasis on the richness and particularity of Indian social practices and customs, may be a first step toward thinking about the sources of violence in Indian society."

Yeah! That very same "emphasis on the richness and particularity of Indian social practices and customs" - could be the "the sources of violence in Indian society." - Come man you can do better than this.

Such a load unmitigated tripe - and you want us to swallow this.

And then " We have only to look at the dangers of other exceptionalisms (or earlier incarnations of our own) to recommend such an approach."

big deal!


I sorry to say this article is an unmitigated disaster zone. Riddled with gobble-gobbledegook. Words meant to impress, but carry no meaning whatsoever.

Like they say - for every generalisation that is true in India, the opposite is also true... multiple realities live side by side... so the "Exception" that people often mention isn't really so, it's another reality...

In a ultra diverse population - this is bound to happen... things are smothening out a bit, spanning over the multiple fault-lines - but it will take time... In the meantime - this analysis seems to be an excercise in futility... has no practical value...

Neembu

Many thanks. You raise an excellent point, one that deserves much more attention. The pressures to be a model minority translate into strategies of reshaping Indian identities along certain lines, often eagerly adopted by Indians themselves. Thus, to espouse capitalism without qualification is suddenly to be a good Indian!

Regards
Rohit Chopra

Fabulous discussion.

What is particularly interesting is that this is also a transnational construction that taps into the "Model Minority Myth" in the West. This is particularly significant when we see some elements of Indian communities distance themselves from Muslim and Pakistan immigrant communities post 9/11 and the attendent domestic and international policies of the US.