Colonial world of postcolonial historians: reification, theoreticism, and the neoliberal reinvention of tribal identity in India

Bhabani Nayak

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)
    253 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    This article develops a critical analysis of the colonial world of the postcolonial historians whose works inadvertently contribute to the process of reconstituting the colonial construction of tribal identities in neoliberal India. The monolithic and colonial construction of tribal identities in postcolonial India reinforces and preserves tribal identities along the lines of the colonial methods of identity formation based on territorialization. The article highlights the problematic features of the territorialization and deterritorialization of tribal identities and their reconstitution. Territorial-based identity formation is now being used and sustained by the neoliberal political and economic ruling and non-ruling elites in order to exploit tribal communities. The existence of upper-caste and class-based Hindu social order is concomitant with a social hierarchy based on the exploitation of tribal communities in India. This article locates the colonial and neoliberal capitalist logic of identity formation that serves elites, and helps to advance the neoliberal political-economic project of the Hindu right. A postmodern logic of identity formation facilitates the expansion of the neoliberal capitalist economy with the process of Hinduization. It contributes to identity formations that divide the people on territorial grounds. The article is divided into four parts. The first outlines the philosophical basis of identity formation and its links with neoliberalism; the second deals with identity formation based on territory; part three documents the debates on tribal identity formation in postcolonial India; and the final part elucidates the capitalist logic inherent in territorial-based identity formations.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)511-532
    Number of pages22
    JournalJournal of Asian and African Studies
    Volume56
    Issue number3
    Early online date10 Jun 2020
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2021

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

    Keywords

    • Hinduization
    • India
    • Postcolonial
    • identity
    • tribal

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Geography, Planning and Development
    • Development

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Colonial world of postcolonial historians: reification, theoreticism, and the neoliberal reinvention of tribal identity in India'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this