Times of the Nation: Being ‘Anti-National’ in Contemporary India

‘Times of the Nation: Being ‘Anti-National’ in Contemporary India’, was held on 17 March 2016, as part of the Another India programme of events. This event brought together members of the Warwick community to learn about and reflect upon the new prominence of India’s public research universities within debates about ‘nationalism’ and ‘anti-nationalism.’ A panel of Warwick’s faculty from across departments –Aditya Sarkar (History), Rashmi Varma (English and Comparative Literary Studies), Shirin Rai (Politics and International Relations)—spoke about recent events at Jawaharlal Nehru University and beyond. The panel was chaired by the Sarah Hodges (History). The panellists reflected on majoritarian discourses of nation and nationalism in contemporary India.

Panellists also discussed how the politics of being and becoming 'anti-national' had taken shape in courts of law, development discourses, and formal state boundaries. The panellists and audience responded to the scope and limits of the solidarities thrown up by the burgeoning student movement in India. The audience offered lively question sand interventions. Discussion continued at the reception that immediately followed.