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Speaking Like a State: Language and Nationalism in Pakistan
Author(s): Alyssa Ayres (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date: 10 May 2012
- Edition: Illustrated
- Language: English
- Print length: 230 pages
- ISBN-10: 1107404436
- ISBN-13: 9781107404434
Book 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.
Editorial Reviews
Review
'… 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
Book Description
This book examines Pakistan's troubled history by exploring the importance of culture to political legitimacy.
