Ratna Ghosh (McGill) and Avaz Nazeem (Concordia) examine how enemy images of the rival states and whole populations have been created and perpetuated in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Their project attempts to move beyond the traditional explanations of hostility (nuclear rivalry, Kashmir, internal colonialism) between India and Pakistan, and Bangladesh and Pakistan, in order to find the root cause of suspicion and mistrust. The assumption is that in order to find out the root causes of this continuing hostility and mistrust on the one hand, and the skepticism on the part of people of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh regarding the possibility of peace on the Other hand, it is important to examine and analyze respective educational discourses, especially educational texts (curricula and textbooks) in these three countries, as the sites where each country, its ideology and its population is constructed as the “Other”. This project argues that these texts construct a nationalistic ‘self’ that is militaristic against the perceived “subversive Other”.
South Asia is important both geopolitically as well as geographically because it is one of the most volatile and populous regions of the world. In 2000, the total population of the region was about 22 percent of the world's population and 34 percent of the population of Asia. The majority of the people live below the poverty line, although it also has a fast growing middle class with considerable purchasing power. Two countries in the region (India and Pakistan) have attained the status of nuclear powers. These two countries have gone to war three times in 60 years after separation and independence from British rule in 1947. The Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971 led to its liberation from Pakistan. Peace initiatives between India and Pakistan have been short-lived and mutual perceptions of hostility, deceit, mistrust and enmity continue. There has been a more recent initiative of détente and peace. But why are significant populations in both countries skeptical to the prospect of peace? Why are students in Bangladesh and Pakistan still being taught about conspiracy theories instead of facts?
This methodological approach in analyzing textbooks draws upon Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and critical ethnography. Central to this approach is the argument that texts do not represent reality but rather structure the way we understand it. The contextual nature of all texts is important because of their historical positioning and hierarchy of meaning and network of power. CDA maps out the means through which meanings are fabricated and fixed and the process by which these meanings become so ingrained that they become natural and need decoding. This project looks for nodal points such as religion, secularism and nationalism; and notions such as nationalist, patriot, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Muslim, and Hindu etc., that are fixed and inculcated into students’ minds. As adult citizens they carry deeply ingrained images of the “Other”/enemy, of the rival state and its population.
Contact:
Ratna Ghosh, CM, OQ, PhD, FRSC
(514) 398-4527 Ext. 094761
Department of Integrated Studies in Education
3700 McTavish, Room 322
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2
