| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
097139
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2010.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
The books reviewed here deal with issues that are integral to the global problem of citizenship and its conceptual flow in time and space. Although not explicitly political, they point towards the difficulty of achieving liberal citizenship in illiberal societies where mass mobilization has often led to the decline of modernity and liberal institutions. Is it possible for people whose identities are radically different to share a common space to which they feel morally committed, without having to dissolve their differences? The stories of the rise and fall of 'heartlands' in Uttar Pradesh, struggling Christian minorities in Pakistan, and ownership of the Taj Mahal, a revered and much loved Islamic shrine in a primarily Hindu society, share this question in common. This new research agenda that these books generate has the potential for the construction of an indigenous and hybrid citizenship, and the reconfiguration of power under a different form of institutions and rules with no fixed, narrow, empirical referents, akin to the sense of belonging that visitors to the noble Taj celebrate, even though ever so fleetingly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 |
ID:
114919
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2012.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
Imagine if there is a war between India and Pakistan and the National Museum at New Delhi was vandalized and precious historical artifacts and other historical objects were stolen; or close your eyes and visualize India without the Taj Mahal which may be destroyed in an air attack. The standing bodhisattvas, dating back to seventh century AD, and the arms and armours of the Mughal era are some of the fabulous cultural wealth stored in the National Museum that is priceless for the nation and the loss of which can be the loss of the entire golden history of that era. That is literally what has happened to the Iraq National Museum in Baghadad (the Archaeological Institute of America has raised concern on the subject). Many artifacts contained in the museum were excavated from what has come to be known as the "Cradle of Civilisation" and artifacts-like a Sumerian marble head of a woman from Warka, dated 3000 BC and measuring 20 cm high-were found stolen from the National Museum in Baghdad. The fog of war and the instability that followed led to the looting and disappearance of thousands of such priceless artifacts from Baghdad National Museum and have sent alarm bells ringing regarding the preservation of cultural heritage in any armed conflict. The Chinese Cultural Revolution was another example of what harm can be done to the cultural heritage and how history can be obliterated and precious artifacts destroyed in the event of hostility breaking out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|