5 The communal question and partition in British India and mandate Palestine
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Amrita Shodhan
Abstract
How does a partition of land between ‘nations’ that inhabit a single colonial territory seem like a sensible solution in 1947/48 British India and mandate Palestine? This chapter suggests that the sociology of colonial knowledge provides some answers. The colonial construction of unitary, fundamentally defined, but politically governed communities occurred over different time spans but in similar ways in both regions. Within this broad formulation, this chapter examines the history of legal governance, and the representational practices that codify and actualise this colonial sociology. British adjudication and laws replaced local authorities and systems of governance in socioreligious groups. This replacement was a complex and negotiated process between the British authorities and the local elite. It occurred over a longer period in India than Palestine, but followed similar processes in Palestine emanating from the British experience of governing in India. In addition, British colonial authorities in both regions looked at the development of political ‘representation’ of important social groups in their administration, by organising various power-sharing arrangements. The chapter suggests that in the process of legal administration and political representation, multiple ‘fuzzy’ religious groups of the early colonial period were forged into highly nationalised, singular religious communities at the time of devolution and partition. Seeing these processes comparatively elucidates British colonial legalities and highlights the common nature of these processes and links across colonial territories.
Abstract
How does a partition of land between ‘nations’ that inhabit a single colonial territory seem like a sensible solution in 1947/48 British India and mandate Palestine? This chapter suggests that the sociology of colonial knowledge provides some answers. The colonial construction of unitary, fundamentally defined, but politically governed communities occurred over different time spans but in similar ways in both regions. Within this broad formulation, this chapter examines the history of legal governance, and the representational practices that codify and actualise this colonial sociology. British adjudication and laws replaced local authorities and systems of governance in socioreligious groups. This replacement was a complex and negotiated process between the British authorities and the local elite. It occurred over a longer period in India than Palestine, but followed similar processes in Palestine emanating from the British experience of governing in India. In addition, British colonial authorities in both regions looked at the development of political ‘representation’ of important social groups in their administration, by organising various power-sharing arrangements. The chapter suggests that in the process of legal administration and political representation, multiple ‘fuzzy’ religious groups of the early colonial period were forged into highly nationalised, singular religious communities at the time of devolution and partition. Seeing these processes comparatively elucidates British colonial legalities and highlights the common nature of these processes and links across colonial territories.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Foreword by Lucy Chester xiii
- Acknowledgements xvi
- Introduction - Connecting the partitions of India and Palestine 1
-
Part I: The partition of British India
- 1 The Mountbatten Viceroyalty reconsidered 35
- 2 The paradigmatic partition? The Pakistan demand revisited 57
-
Part II: The partition of Palestine
- 3 Partition and the question of international governance 75
- 4 Fighting for Palestine as a holy duty? The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the partition of Palestine in 1947 91
-
Part III: The partitions of India and Palestine compared
- 5 The communal question and partition in British India and mandate Palestine 113
- 6 India’s dilemmas of pragmatism v. principles 138
-
Part IV: The consequences of partition for South Asia, the Middle East and beyond
- 7 The partitions of India and Palestine and the dawn of majority rule in Africa and Asia 159
- 8 ‘Unfinished’ partition 193
- 9 Civil war, total war or a war of partition? Reassessing the 1948 War in Palestine from a global perspective 222
- 10 Partitioned identities? Regional, caste and national identity in Pakistan 259
- Afterword 278
- Index 289
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Foreword by Lucy Chester xiii
- Acknowledgements xvi
- Introduction - Connecting the partitions of India and Palestine 1
-
Part I: The partition of British India
- 1 The Mountbatten Viceroyalty reconsidered 35
- 2 The paradigmatic partition? The Pakistan demand revisited 57
-
Part II: The partition of Palestine
- 3 Partition and the question of international governance 75
- 4 Fighting for Palestine as a holy duty? The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the partition of Palestine in 1947 91
-
Part III: The partitions of India and Palestine compared
- 5 The communal question and partition in British India and mandate Palestine 113
- 6 India’s dilemmas of pragmatism v. principles 138
-
Part IV: The consequences of partition for South Asia, the Middle East and beyond
- 7 The partitions of India and Palestine and the dawn of majority rule in Africa and Asia 159
- 8 ‘Unfinished’ partition 193
- 9 Civil war, total war or a war of partition? Reassessing the 1948 War in Palestine from a global perspective 222
- 10 Partitioned identities? Regional, caste and national identity in Pakistan 259
- Afterword 278
- Index 289
