We are seeking potential panelists for a panel proposal for the 2012 South Asia conference in Madison. The panel's title is "Who is the Uncorrupted Nationalist? History, the nation and its constituents". In keeping with the conference theme, we propose to examine the deployment of the concept of corruption within nationalism and its constituent subgroups as a product of and response to historical narratives.
Please contact me at William_Kuracina@tamu-commerce.edu if interested. We look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
William F. Kuracina
The proposed panel submission appears below.
"Nationalist meta-narratives posit a homogeneous national identity unified relative to both other national identities and histories of political domination and oppression. An important aspect of such enunciations of distinction is the formation of narratives of becoming that articulate and concretize certain cultural and social characteristics and certain groups as being central to the formation of the nation’s image. However the production and recognition of such universalizing narratives challenges and marginalizes alternative perspectives of national identity and of becoming a nation. Certain constituents of the nation, including classes, castes, religions, regions, genders, etc., as they are marginalized may be labeled as ‘corrupt,’ ‘corrupted,’ or ‘corrupting’ the nation, and such labels are significant aspects of asserting the hegemonic status of a certain dominant vision of the nation. At other moments, particular groups may also perceive certain images and narratives of the nation as also being ‘corrupt,’ ‘corrupted,’ or ‘corrupting.’ These conceptions of an exclusionary other or a challenging of a national-self draw upon a variety of facets that include conceptions of corruption; within this panel we wish to examine such strategic uses of the specter of corruption within the national organizations and the nation’s constituent sub-groups."
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