Home > Programs > South Asian Studies and Religious Nationalism

Home
About
Conferences

Publications

The South Asian Studies program of the Ethics and Public Policy Center addresses the major countries of South Asia — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. This program has already dramatically refocused the policy debate in Washington concerning this crucial though often neglected region, and we are confident that it will continue to do so for years to come. [Read More]

Latest News & Publications

The Indian Elections
Counting the Votes and Assessing the Stakes
By Timothy Samuel Shah
Saturday, May 22, 2004
On May 11, 2004, political theorist and commentator Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta addressed an audience at EPPC on the recent – and dramatic – Indian elections. Click here for a transcript of his presentation and the discussion that followed.

Muslims at Risk
Monday, May 10, 2004
The rise of Hindu nationalism in India, the world’s largest democracy and home to the world’s second largest Muslim population, endangers not only the Muslim community there but democratic values as well. In this conversation, two experts examined the roots and unfortunate consequences of this phenomenon.

Muslims in Hindu Nationalist India
A Conversation with Asghar Ali Engineer and Paul R. Brass
By Timothy Samuel Shah
Friday, April 30, 2004
In January, EPPC brought together two experts on religious conflict in South Asia to discuss the possible impact of increasing religious militancy -- both Hindu and Muslim -- on the Indian democratic state. The remarks of those analysts, Indian scholar/activist Asghar Ali Engineer and American scholar Paul R. Brass, are featured in this Center Conversation.

Extremist Religious Nationalism in South Asia and Beyond
Lecture for Conference on "Religion in a Globalizing World"
By Timothy Samuel Shah
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
One can hardly begin a lecture on religious nationalism in South Asia without quoting that great Indian religious nationalist Mahatma Gandhi. The witticism that I would like to quote now Gandhi memorably delivered in response to a question: "What do you think of Western Civilization?" His mordant reply was, "I think it would be a good idea." Now if someone were to ask me what I think of the lecture I am about to give, I think my reply would have to be, "I think it would be a good idea." It is painfully true that the lecture I am about to give is not the lecture I would like to give. It contains very far from complete or developed thoughts about a very important topic.

Latest Publication

Hindu Nationalism vs. Islamic Jihad: Religious Militancy in South Asia
A Conversation with Cedric Prakash, Teesta Setalvad, Kamal Chenoy, Sumit Ganguly, Sunil Khilnani, and Jonah Blank

On June 10, 2002, the Ethics and Public Policy Center sponsored a conference in which six experts on South Asia discussed the impact of increasing religious militancy—Hindu as well as Islamic—on geopolitical stability and religious freedom in the subcontinent. Co-sponsoring the conference was INFEMIT, a network of Third World theologians and activists led by Dr. Vinay Samuel. In the edited transcript that follows, each of the six experts makes brief remarks. Then other conference participants join them in a lively discussion. Moderator Timothy Samuel Shah is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center specializing in South Asia.