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Containing East BengalLanguage, Nation, and State Formation in Pakistan, 1947—1952'College of Staten Island, USA, toor{at}mail.csi.cuny.edu Recent scholarship on the state has moved towards a focus on state formation as a contingent and contradictory process, and the role of culture therein. Since all states today are understood to be `nation-states', `national culture' becomes a key arena for struggles over hegemony and consequently for understanding nation-state formation. This article uses the `national language controversy' in Pakistan between 1947 and 1952 as a lens through which to explore the relationship between discourses of national culture and the consolidation and contestation of power within the modern (postcolonial) nation-state.
Key Words: language national culture Pakistan postcolonial state formation
Cultural Dynamics, Vol. 21, No. 2,
185-210 (2009) |
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