000			02017nam a22001457a 4500
999			_c525023 _d525023
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100			_aKumar, Sunny _948413
245			_aNeeti Nair, hurt sentiments: Secularism and belonging in South Asia
260			_aThe Indian Economic and Social History Review
300			_a60(4), Oct-Dec, 2023: p.481-482
520			_aNeeti Nair, Hurt Sentiments: Secularism and Belonging in South Asia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2023, 350 pp. Politicians and political commentators have often been quick to argue that Western European notions of secularism cannot simply be superimposed on South Asia, but they have found it rather difficult to define their own South Asian version of it. For me, this difficulty owes more to the lack of intent than content. While scholars have paid due attention to how secularism in modern South Asia has continuously been under siege by its opponents, the vacillations and betrayals of its proponents have slipped under the radar. Neeti Nair’s Hurt Sentiments is an important contribution in this regard, which brings the secularists to the centre of her study of the displacement of secularism as the paradigm of political discourse in South Asia in the twentieth century. Contrary to what the title implies, the politics of outrage against hurtful, offensive or ‘blasphemous’ expressions are only a small but crucial part of this broader investigation. Nair undertakes a close reading of a few conjunctures in the history of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, when secularism was passionately debated and key legislation was enacted. Taken together, these disparate discussions give critical insights into the ideology and practices of South Asian secularists and their role in the weakening of secularism as a political force in the region. –Reproduced https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00194646231203727
773			_aThe Indian Economic and Social History Review
906			_aBOOK REVIEW
942			_cAR