Description
Alyssa Ayres' fascinating study examines Pakistan's troubled history by exploring the importance of culture to political legitimacy. Early leaders selected Urdu as the natural symbol of the nation's great cultural past, but due to its limited base great efforts would be required to make it truly national. This paradox underscores the importance of cultural policies for national identity formation. By comparing Pakistan's experience with those of India and Indonesia, the author analyzes how their national language policies led to very different outcomes. The lessons of these large multiethnic states offer insights for the understanding of culture, identity, and nationalism throughout the world. The book is aimed at scholars in the fields of history, political theory and South Asian studies, as well as those interested in the history of culture and nationalism in one of the world's most complex, and challenging, countries.
This book examines Pakistan's troubled history by exploring the importance of culture to political legitimacy.
About the Author
Alyssa Ayres is Director for India and South Asia at McLarty Associates, Washington, DC. A cultural historian of modern South Asia, Alyssa Ayres has carried out research in India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. She has co-edited three books, including one forthcoming on power realignments between China, India, and the United States, as well as two volumes in Asia Society's India Briefing series.
Reviews
'... Ayres's engaging and thought provoking study is required reading for historians of South Asia interested in language politics. Moreover, as she stresses, India, Pakistan and Indonesia are not anomalous cases but are the outcomes of significant postcolonial movements ... As such, their language politics cannot be ignored by scholars of language and the nation-state in general.' Javed Majeed, The American Historical Review
Awards
Winner of American Institute of Pakistan Studies Book Prize 2011-12.
Book Information
ISBN 9780521519311
Author Alyssa Ayres
Format Hardback
Page Count 230
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 500g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 16mm
This book examines Pakistan's troubled history by exploring the importance of culture to political legitimacy.
About the Author
Alyssa Ayres is Director for India and South Asia at McLarty Associates, Washington, DC. A cultural historian of modern South Asia, Alyssa Ayres has carried out research in India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. She has co-edited three books, including one forthcoming on power realignments between China, India, and the United States, as well as two volumes in Asia Society's India Briefing series.
Reviews
'... Ayres's engaging and thought provoking study is required reading for historians of South Asia interested in language politics. Moreover, as she stresses, India, Pakistan and Indonesia are not anomalous cases but are the outcomes of significant postcolonial movements ... As such, their language politics cannot be ignored by scholars of language and the nation-state in general.' Javed Majeed, The American Historical Review
Awards
Winner of American Institute of Pakistan Studies Book Prize 2011-12.
Book Information
ISBN 9780521519311
Author Alyssa Ayres
Format Hardback
Page Count 230
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 500g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 16mm
