Re-territorialisation of persecuted identity: Sikh refugee contribution towards ethno-national conflict in Indian Punjab
Abstract
It has been said that ethno-national identity, despite being ‘psychological’ in constitution, is territorialised in place. Indeed, it is virtually impossible to conceive of any identity, particularly one that is ethno-national in variety, which does not contain a strong territorial underpinning. Yet refugees that are driven out from their homeland on account of their ethno-national identity are typically considered to constitute a de-territorialised group. Halting the analysis there, however, is problematic, since refugees do not necessarily lose a sense of ethno-national identity consciousness on account of being de-territorialised. Nor would it be sensible to assume that ethno-national identity can persist without a territorial basis. Rather what this paper contends is that de-territorialised refugees, upon arrival into their host societies, endeavour to ‘re-territorialise’ their persecuted identity and that such a process will likely prompt the rise of ethno-national conflict. This claim will be demonstrated with reference to the Sikhs of Punjab.
References
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Singh, Gopal. 1987. Communal Organisations in Punjab (1978-1984): An Overview. In Punjab Today (ed) G. Singh. New Delhi: Intellectual.
Singh, Harnam. 1945. Punjab: The Homeland of the Sikhs. Lahore: Civil and Military Gazette.
Singh, Khushwant. 1992. My Bleeding Punjab. Delhi: UBS.
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Spate, O. 1948. The Partition of the Prospects of Pakistan. Geographical Review 38, 5-29.
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Talib, G. [1950] 1991. Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947 (ed) R. Swarup. New Delhi: Voice of India.
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Anand, B. Sahni, S. Sekhon, A. Singh, Amrik, P. Joshi, and N. Singh. New Delhi: National Book Club Publication.
Bonacich, E. 1972. A Theory of Ethnic Antagonism: The Split Labour Market. American Sociological Review 37, 547-559.
Brass, P. 2003. The Partition of India and Retributive Genocide in the Punjab, 1946-1947: Means, Methods, and Purposes. Journal of Genocide Research 5, 71-101.
Census of India. 1941. Vol. 6 Punjab: Tables by Khan Bahadur Sheikh Fazl-i-Ilahi. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1941a. Vol. 1 India Part I: Tables by M.W.M. Yeatts. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1951. Vol.1 India Part II-A: Demographic Tables by R.A. Gopalaswami. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1951a. Vol. 8 Punjab, PEPSU, Himachal Pradesh & Delhi Part I-A: Report by Lakshmi Chandra Vashishta. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1951b. Vol. 8 Punjab, PEPSU, Himachal Pradesh & Delhi Part II-A: General Population, Age & Social Tables by Lakshmi Chandra Vashishta. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1981. Series 17 Punjab Part II-A & Part II-B: General Population Tables and Primary Census Abstract by D.N. Dhir. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1981a. Series 17 Punjab Part V-A & Part V-B: Migration Tables by D.N. Dhir. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1991. Series 20 Punjab Part II-A & Part II-B: General Population Tables and Primary Census Abstract. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of India. 1991a. Series 20 Punjab Part V-A & Part V-B: D Series Migration Tables Vol.1. New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Census of Pakistan. 1951. Vol.1 Pakistan: Report & Tables by E.H. Slade. Karachi: Manager of Publications, Government of Pakistan.
Census of Pakistan. 1951a Population According to Religion: Table 6. Karachi: Government of Pakistan Press.
Chopra, V. 1984. US-Pak Collusion: The Punjab Theatre. In Agony of Punjab (eds) V. Chopra, R. Mishra, and N. Singh. New Delhi: Patriot.
Collins, L., and D. Lapierre. 1981. Mountbatten and the Partition of India: Vol. 1 March 22-August 15, 1947. New Delhi: Vikas.
Connerton, P. 1989. How Societies Remember. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Copland, I. 2002. The Master and the Maharajas: The Sikh Princes and the East Punjab Massacres of 1947. Modern Asian Studies 36, 657–704.
Coser, L. 1956. The Functions of Social Conflict. New York: The Free Press.
Dhanwantri and P. Joshi. 1947. Bleeding Punjab Warns. Bombay: People’s Publishing House.
Gallagher, D. 1989. The Evolution of the International Refugee System. International Migration Review 23, 579–598.
Gupta, D. 1996. The Context of Ethnicity: Sikh Identity in a Comparative Perspective. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Halbwachs, M. 1925. Les Cadres Sociaux de la Mémoire. Paris: F Alcan.
Hill, K., J. Leaning, J. Malik, S. Russell, and W. Seltzer. 2008. The Demographic Impact of Partition in the Punjab in 1947. Population Studies 62, 155-170.
Jeffrey, R. 1986. What’s Happening to India? Punjab, Ethnic Conflict, Mrs Gandhi’s Death and the Test for Federalism. Basingstoke: MacMillan.
Kamath, M. 1984. Myth and Reality. In The Punjab Story (eds) K. Singh, A. Kaur, T. Singh, S. Gupta, S. Kirpekar, J. Aurora, M. Kamath, S. Sethi, and A. Shourie. New Delhi: Roli.
Kapur, R. 1986. Sikh Separatism: The Politics of Faith. London: Allen & Unwin.
Keller, S. 1975. Uprooting and Social Change: The Role of Refugees in Development. Delhi: Manohar.
Krishan, G. 2004. Demography of the Punjab: 1849-1947. Journal of Punjab Studies 11, 77-89.
Menon, J. 2006. Rehearsing the Partition: Gendered Violence in ‘Aur Kitne Tukde’. Feminist Review 84: 29-47.
Narang, A. 1986. Punjab Politics in National Perspective. New Delhi: Gitanjali.
Nayar, B. 1966. Minority Politics in the Punjab. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Nora, P. 1989. Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire. Representations 26, 7-24.
Punjab Police. 2011. Martyr’s Gallery. Accessed January 1, 2013. Puri, H., P. Judge, and J. Sekhon. 1999. Terrorism in Punjab: Understanding Grassroots Reality. New Delhi: Har-Anand.
SATP. 2001. Annual Fatalities in Terrorist Related Violence. South Asian Terrorism Portal. Accessed January 1, 2013.
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/punjab/data_sheets/annual_casualties.htm.
SATP. 2001a. Hard-core Terrorists Killed in Punjab. South Asian Terrorism Portal. Accessed January 1, 2013. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/punjab/data_sheets/hardcore_terror_killed.htm
Sharma, S. 1994. Social Structure, Religious Pluralism and Violence in Punjab: Historical Roots. In Punjab: Past, Present and Future (ed) G. Singh. Delhi: Ajanta.
Sharma, Y. 1992. State Autonomy & National Integration: Identity Crisis of the Sikhs. Jammu: Vinod.
Singh, Gopal. 1987. Communal Organisations in Punjab (1978-1984): An Overview. In Punjab Today (ed) G. Singh. New Delhi: Intellectual.
Singh, Harnam. 1945. Punjab: The Homeland of the Sikhs. Lahore: Civil and Military Gazette.
Singh, Khushwant. 1992. My Bleeding Punjab. Delhi: UBS.
Singh, Satinder. 1982. Khalistan: An Academic Analysis. New Delhi: Amar Prakashan.
Spate, O. 1948. The Partition of the Prospects of Pakistan. Geographical Review 38, 5-29.
Stephenson, G. 1968. Pakistan: Discontiguity and the Majority Problem. Geographical Review 58, 195-213.
Talbot, I., and D. Tatla. 2006. Epicentre of Violence: Partition Voices and Memories from Amritsar. Delhi: Permanent Black.
Talib, G. [1950] 1991. Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947 (ed) R. Swarup. New Delhi: Voice of India.
Weiner, M. 1978. Sons of the Soil: Migration and Ethnic Conflict in India. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Zürcher, E. 2013. The Balkan Wars and the Refugee Leadership of the Early Turkish Republic. In War and Nationalism: The Balkans Wars, 1912-1913, and their Sociopolitical Implications (eds) H. Yavuz, and I. Blumi. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press.
Published
06-May-2017
How to Cite
Kataria, S. (2017). Re-territorialisation of persecuted identity: Sikh refugee contribution towards ethno-national conflict in Indian Punjab. The South Asianist Journal, 5(1). Retrieved from http://www.southasianist.ed.ac.uk/article/view/1658
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