Texts of war : militarism and gender identity in Pakistan and India | |
| Author | Babar, Aneela Z. |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-99-1 |
| Subject(s) | Women in war--India Women in war--Pakistan |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This study analyzes how the nation-state in its discourse regarding nationalism relies on boundary-making and mapping practices in an effort to constrnct its own identity vis a vis other nation-states. This study examines how this boundary making is a gendered construct (when it intensifies/underlines the creation of the other) leaving some of the populace feeling like 'others' in one's own nation. This happens as the stake holders in the making of the national idea are informed by patriarchal and gender ideologies in the process of creating the ideologies they espouse. This study takes up a particular moment in the history of Pakistan and India in May 1998 to analyze this hypothesis. It debates whether whenever the spirit of nationalism increases and is verbalized, invariably gender identities are more vigorously demarcated. As nationalism regenerates, it restrengthens gender identities and draws upon and builds upon it. So when 'jingoistic' nationalism increased at the time of the nuclear tests in the public and work space it affected women in particular. There was a great demarcation in gender identities and what the state required the citizen to do, as in what it means to be a woman in the two states and what would be her duties towards the state. And what are the duties of the male citizen, as in the mujahid (warrior) towards the state? The study examined the social texts available during a selected period in Pakistan and India. The study recommends the development of an alternative discourse in South Asia. This would require a radical restrncturing of conventional thought and analysis which to date has valorized and enhanced what are traditionally known as masculine values, that is: violence, eagerness to retaliate, or a tendency towards brutality. There is a need now to 'demilitarize' the social text in South Asia and to envision a society in which differences do not connote either dominance or subordination. |
| Year | 1999 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kelkar, Govind; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Savage, William E. ;Walter, Pierre ;Zimmermann, Willi; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | NORAD ; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 |