International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS)

238.

Panel Title            : RESISTANCE POLITICS IN SOUTH ASIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR ASIAN COOPERATION

Institution             : South Asia Council, Association for Asian Studies

Chair                      : Anand  Yang

Convener              : Upali Arjun Guneratne

Discussant           :

Panel Abstract    :

Resistance politics - be they based on environmental challenges, women's rights, religious issues, or other concerns -  have manifest in important ways in South Asia over the past two decades. They are intimately tied in with identity in local contexts and have important implications for an overall Asian context as well. These movements are not happening in a vacuum, and engagement with similar movements elsewhere in Asia will certainly have an impact on them. This panel takes a fresh look at what we understand about the nature of resistance politics in South Asia and implications that might exist for cooperation elsewhere. In particular, it addresses the divide in Nepal between resistance movements and knowledge production offered by foreign academics conducting research locally, the stance taken by religious resistance movements on women's rights in Pakistan, and related issues concerning resistance movements in India and Sri Lanka as well. Each participant will also include a discussion of where they see possibilities for collaboration and cooperation elsewhere in Asia.

Participants         : Siri Hettige

Paper Title            : "Ethnic identity and Nationalist Resistance Movements in Sri Lanka"

Abstract                :

Social and political conflicts usually reflect persisting or emerging contradictions in a society, ideological or material. While some resistance movements exist side by side, without necessarily being hostile to each other, others are in constant tension or in conflict with each other. In this paper, I would like to focus attention on the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and examine the mutually conflicting nature of the relationship between two resistance movements, namely the Tamil separatist movement and the Sinhala nationalist JVP movement. These two movements share some common characteristics in terms of their origin and background. They are fundamentally in conflict with each other due to the contradictory or zero-sum nature of their political projects. The two movements represent two ethno-linguistically -divergent identity groups that emerged as vibrant and assertive political constituencies after independence, largely due to the confluence of certain significant factors such as rapid population growth, economic stagnation, unemployment, ethno- linguistically segregated education, and the nature of the emergent Sri Lankan state. The intractable nature of the country's ethnic conflict is at least partly due to the conflict of interest and ideas between the Tamil separatist movement and the Sri Lanka nationalist movement spearheaded by the JVP.  In other words, the Sri Lanka's conflict is not simply a political conflict between the Sri Lankan state and the separatist movement as it appears to the outside world, but involves a range of competing identity groups.     

Farzana Bari,

Paper Title            : "Contesting boundaries through political citizenship of Women."

Abstract                :

The paper will be centered around the notion of citizenship and will explore how historically, the women's movement resisted the partial citizenship rights extended to them by successive governments in Pakistan since independence in 1947.  The paper will have a special focus on political rights of women and how citizenship language is used by women's groups to secure these rights through gender quota in politics. The impact of gender quota on women's right issues will be investigated through the analysis of interplay of human agency and structural constraints.  Varied experiences of struggles for political citizenship across South Asia can immensely benefit individual women and women's movements through sharing and networking. The paper will explore the possibilities and challenges to cross border cooperation in political citizenship rights especially in the regional context where nation-states are increasingly becoming more aggressive to guard the boundaries of its citizens while citizens are pushing these boundaries through linking resistance movements across South Asia.