Utopias in Conflict: Religion and Nationalism in Modern India (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

This compact, incisive study by a senior scholar provides a new look at two issues which have polarized India over the last decades: religion and nationalism. Embree shows how the relatively modern Western notions of religion and nationalism have been thrust on the Third World and examines how Hindu civilization has resisted such cultural incursions. He argues that the tension generated by competing visions of the just society has been the determining factor in the social and political life of India during this century, showing how the political aspects of religion and the ideological character of nationalism has led inexorably and unfortunately to conflict. Further, the author asserts that in India, as elsewhere in the world at the end of the twentieth century, religions have legitimized violence as people struggle for what they regard as their just claims upon the future. As examples of the tension around religion and nationalism, he examines in detail two recent, explosive cases—one involving Muslim-Hindu communal encounters, the other, the separatist movement of Sikhs.

Utopias In Conflict gracefully and elegantly illuminates current issues in South Asian politics and contributes considerably to the broader discussion of fundamentalism and religious violence in the Third World. Thought-provoking and searching, this work should interest anyone concerned about fundamentalism, the problems of national integration, and politics and religion in the Third World.