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Speaking Like a State

Language and Nationalism in Pakistan

Alyssa Ayres author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:10th May '12

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Speaking Like a State cover

This book examines Pakistan's troubled history by exploring the importance of culture to political legitimacy.

Alyssa Ayres' fascinating study examines Pakistan's troubled history by exploring the importance of culture to political legitimacy. Early leaders selected Urdu as the natural symbol of the nation's great cultural past, but due to its limited base great efforts would be required to make it truly national. This paradox underscores the importance of cultural policies for national identity formation. By comparing Pakistan's experience with those of India and Indonesia, the author analyzes how their national language policies led to very different outcomes. The lessons of these large multiethnic states offer insights for the understanding of culture, identity, and nationalism throughout the world. The book is aimed at scholars in the fields of history, political theory and South Asian studies, as well as those interested in the history of culture and nationalism in one of the world's most complex, and challenging, countries.

'… Ayres's engaging and thought provoking study is required reading for historians of South Asia interested in language politics. Moreover, as she stresses, India, Pakistan and Indonesia are not anomalous cases but are the outcomes of significant postcolonial movements … As such, their language politics cannot be ignored by scholars of language and the nation-state in general.' Javed Majeed, The American Historical Review

  • Winner of American Institute of Pakistan Studies Book Prize 2011-2012

ISBN: 9781107404434

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 12mm

Weight: 310g

230 pages