Nation, Gender and Representations of (In)Securities in Indian Politics

Runa Das (1)

1 UMN - University of Minnesota [Twin Cities]

This article examines the relationship between gender, nations and nationalisms vis-a-vis the Indian state's nationalist identity and perceptions of (in)security. It explores how the postcolonial Indian state's project of nation-building — reflective of a western secular-modern identity (under the Congress Party) and a -dominated identity (under the BJP) — incorporates gender, with continuities and discontinuities, to articulate divergent forms of nationalist/communalist identities, `cartographic anxieties' and nuclear (in)securities. The article contends that with the recent rise of the Hindu-Right BJP, guided by ideology, the nature of representing the Indian nation, its women and (in)securities has changed from a geopolitical to a cultural perception — thereby necessitating a rereading of the Indian nation, nationalism, gender and its perceptions of (in)security.

Mots clés: gender; Hindutva; identity; India; insecurity; nation; nationalism; security; state

Runa Das. Nation, Gender and Representations of (In)Securities in Indian Politics. European Journal of Women's Studies, 2008, 15 (3), pp.203-221. ⟨10.1177/1350506808091504⟩. ⟨hal-00571330⟩