Session 4: Postcolonial States

Anthropology of the state: Session 4

Comments

Sudipto Kaviraj, On the enchantment of the state: Indian thought on the role of the state in the narrative of modernity. European Journal of Sociology 46(2): 263-96, 2005.

The linkage drawn between post colonialism and modernism. This is an easy method to distinguish the various tropes used to read subjects like the Indian State. It is interesting to note that Kaviraj marks dissenters as one of the idea generating entities for thinking about the state. Specifically in current times the state is seen as an oppressing entity. The paper takes us through the ways in which the Indian state was seen and was imagined by scholars prior to independence and prior to the colonizers idea of the state.

It studies the movement of the idea of the state. The political imaginary of the Indian: Seen through the ideas of the politician, voter, bureaucrat and dissenter. This is essentially moving away from the imagination of the state as perceived by the west or in Western History. It sees the sense of the state as something that has broken away from the Government/Centre, from the Bureaucracy as well as the army and the Police.

It is imagined as a benefactor, as a roadblock to rights or rightful access to the mechanics of the government (this in the case of land grabbing and squatting). It is a begetter of justice. The state therefore has become something that will help or is a tool to help the people. This is a marked deviation from theoretical frameworks that point to the state being the perpetrator of crime and the usurper of human rights.

John L. Comaroff and Jean Comaroff, Law and disorder in the postcolony; an introduction. In Law and Disorder in the Postcolony, edited by Jean Comaroff and John L. Comaroff (University of Chicago Press, 2006).

The introduction to this book essentially points towards a way of thinking about why the Postcolony, where the government is usually elected and appears democratic, there is an increased sense of lawlessness.

It is almost as if Democratization means a rise in crime and violence. That the elected, representative political regimes are more plagued by lawlessness than earlier ones. There is of course the traditional Marxist argument that Social disorder implies epochal change. That ultimately this will lead to a reasonable level of peace or order in society.

Added to this is Modern History and its bearing witness to regimes that have used criminally brutal modes of 'dominance'. Modern History also sees the state as an apparatus of domination, even within a democratically elected government. The piece also brings to focus the similarities that Autocracy and liberal democracy share in terms of the mechanisms of governance than what is conventionally recognized.

These two pieces paint a certain image of the postcolony. They allow the reader to resonate with the popular imagination of the state. The second piece specifically, shows that there is a way in which post colonial societies are depicted. Again this depiction is by the west. That of Colombian Druglords and Bombay Gangsters. That of Somali Warlords and Asian politicians. That of a dark world that is the harbinger of chaos.

It is interesting to also note that these are the stereotypes that feed into popular fiction and cinema of the times. Specially the Cinema made by the 'West'.