1995-10-01a- CIA Conference Report: THE CHALLENGE OF ETHNIC CONFLICT TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORDER IN THE 1990S GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES 01-Oct-95

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legislative assembly and imposing President's or Gov- Processes of Ethnic Identity Formulation
ernor's Rule.
Birth into a particular group still matters far more in
The potential for serious and enduring damage to South Asia than it does in areas of other major civili-
existing polities from ethnically rooted violence, both zations. One is expected to be "true to one's salt";
intranationally and internationally, is great and one's essence and traditions are all determined by
appears to be increasing. From 1972 to 1980, India birth.
experienced serious ethnic violence in 67 percent of
all months, and South Asia as a whole experienced Jati,which generally connotes caste, translates liter-
such violence in 95 percent of all months. For the ally as birth. One is born into a particular caste in
period 1981 to 1990, the figures rose to 94 percent and accordance with one's karma-the net merit or
100 percent for India and South Asia, respectively. demerit of actions performed in previous existences. If
From an ethnic perspective, South Asia is arguably the one properly follows in the present life the forms of
most complex and one of the most turbulent regions of behavior appropriate to caste status, one may aspire to
our planet. Its political map is far from frozen. One rebirth in a higher caste. This axiomatic belief forms
may safely anticipate a number of changes in the fore- the essence of Hindu dharmna, which may be trans-
seeable future, many of which will be driven by agen- lated either as duty or religion. These observations are
das of specific ethnic groups. Whatever these changes made with specific reference to Hinduism but are
may be, they will, in turn, surely give rise to new equally applicable to Buddhism and Jainism. The
manipulations of ethnic identities to suit the needs of behavioral norms on which they are based have
new situations. strongly influenced communities of other coexisting
faiths of South Asia as well, even Muslims, for whom
This presentation considers the various historical pro- the very notion of caste is theoretically anathema. For
cesses that have shaped ethnic identities in South example, few Indian Muslims, before the creation of
Asia, concentrating, because of limitations of time and Pakistan, would have hesitated to identify the social
space, on India and on the postindependence period. It group to which they belonged by a name that would
also discusses specific bases for establishing ethnic conjure up in the minds of their non-Muslim neigh-
identities and the periods, situations, and locales in bors a particular caste-defined set of roles and a spe-
which they assumed importance. It also notes the cific genre de vie.
means by which ethnic groups seek to advance their
interests and by which governments respond to such For most South Asians and for most of the region's
efforts. I shall not, however, strive for completeness- history, caste was the principal referent of one's place
the topic is simply too vast. Omitted from consider- in society. The vast majority of the population lived in
ation here is any discussion of ethnic relations in villages in which. their appropriate social and eco-
Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Even for India, I nomic roles were rooted primarily in caste. Social and
shall do no more than touch lightly on the two most intellectual horizons in such a setting were typically
troublesome contemporary ethnic problems: the Sikh very limited, and political action, such as it was, was
struggle for an independent Khalistan and the com- generally confined to a narrow spatial arena. Affairs of
plex struggle in Kashmir being waged simultaneously state were the domain of small classes of elite.
by forces seeking independence, on the one hand, or Although the encompassing sacred realm of Bharat, or
merger with Pakistan on the other. Virtually all the India, found a place in the consciousness of Hindus,
empirical data that I shall be presenting are drawn communal activities at an all-India level were nonex-
from the updated 1992 edition of the HistoricalAtlas istent. At a regional level, devotion to the cult of a par-
of South Asia, which synthesizes information from a ticular deity or to a saintly figure and participation in
multitude of sources, only a small part of which are major fairs and pilgrimages did provide some feeling
noted in the bibliography accompanying this paper.
Although the interpretations of those data are my own,
I doubt that any are wholly original.
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