Language, Identity, and Power in Modern India

"The book is based on meticulous archival research into the Gujarat region and its ‘formation’ in the domains of literature, history and geography. As such it unravels the history of the ‘making’ of Gujarat as a region and problematizes the multi-layered identities of the Gujarati people. A work of deep scholarship, it makes an immense contribution to knowledge. Its simple, lucid prose, well delineated themes and sections make it very accessible. The book is remarkably jargon-free and should be accessible to students and the general reader interested in contemporary Indian history."

- Gyanesh Kudaisya, National University of Singapore

"Conceptually the book is brilliant, taking a modern language from its emergence, through its evolution in the hands of some of its most powerful early writers, its contact with outside influences, the ways in which its leading proponents used it and built institutions to promote it, its role in creating a new society, a new state, and a new nation. No other book brings together the many different eras of historical development of Gujarati into a single framework."

- Howard Spodek, Temple University, USA

"While being perceptive to the delicate situations of ‘marginalized’ people, such as women and speakers of Gujarati dialects, the author explores variegated debates on the Gujarati language, through which emerges a larger historical picture of the muddled relationship between India and British Imperialism. This book carefully unravels the ramified historical process in an intelligent and sophisticated style, adding innovative contributions to the studies of Indian history and thus serving as a locus classicus for future scholars in the field."

- Kazuyoshi Oishi,Kyoyo Gakubuho, No. 638

"This long-awaited monograph on the making of Gujarati linguistic identity in the context of developments in modern India fulfils the expectations built up by the author’s celebrated Cambridge thesis and subsequent articles over the last two decades. The history of linguistic development is remarkable for its depth and detail, also for its sensitivity of presentation. Isaka explores the relationship between the languages, people and territory of Gujarat as dynamic and evolving, never putting people and things in boxes, always aware of the exception, the ambiguity and fluidity with which people exercise power. This blend of scholarship and sensitivity is exceptional in the present age of name-calling, labelling and identity politics. […] this book presents the struggle over Gujarat and Gujarati in a clear, succinct, detailed manner, revealing the national and regional personalities and policies that went into its making. Isaka gives glimpses of the diversity that was excluded from the elite formations and points to new avenues of research that would highlight these neglected and excluded aspects of regional identity. This also brings to life a national story in the making of the region. It should become an important standard work on any course reading list on the culture and society of modern India."

- Amrita Shodhan, South Asia Research Vol. 43(1): 129–150

“Language, Identity, and Power in Modern India will be essential for scholars interested in exploring how the diverse linguistic landscape of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Gujarat continues to have far-reaching influence on the cultural politics of twenty-first century Gujarat. The book is rigorously researched and relies on extensive archival material in Gujrati, English and Hindi. It deftly combines archival research with insightful qualitative interviews and other materials.”

- Mona G. Mehta, International Quarterly for Asian Studies, Vol. 54 No. 4 (2023)