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Ambedkar's Agonism, Sovereign Violence and Pakistan as Peace

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Peer-reviewed

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Article

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Authors

Kapila, Shruti 

Abstract

In focusing primarily on B. R. Ambedkar, this essay will reconstruct and interpret the work on hostility and antagonism that was central to his political thought and writings. As a thinker, Ambedkar remained singular in taking account of the full and potential measure of violence predominantly in caste relations, but also beyond, in the comparative contexts of revolutions and formations of nation-states in the modern world. The essay reconstructs and interprets Ambedkar as a foundational thinker of sovereignty, republicanism, and agonism. In so doing, it analyzes in the same analytic rubric his writings on caste and Pakistan and the salience of separation to his political thought. Violence, power, and antagonism are elaborated here, as these were redirected to agonistic ends for the assumption of republicanism. The consideration of Pakistan as a political idea, the essay argues, needs to be understood in relation to the historic source of sovereignty, as Ambedkar uncovered namely in the figure of the Brahmin as a dispersed monarchy. Noting the singularity of his apprehension over the radical futurity of the idea of Pakistan, the essay intervenes in and contributes to global political thought and modern Indian history and the formation of Pakistan.

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Keywords

43 History, Heritage and Archaeology, 44 Human Society, 4303 Historical Studies, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies, 5003 Philosophy, 4408 Political Science, 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Journal Title

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1089-201X
1548-226X

Volume Title

39

Publisher

Duke University Press

Rights

All rights reserved