Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Syftet med denna komparativa litteraturstudie har varit att jämföra teorier om vilka sociala och psykologiska processer som kan vara bidragande till att unga muslimer i indienstyrda Kashmir dras till radikala och våldsbejakande grupper samt att undersöka vilken påverkan de hindunationalistiska strömningar som vuxit sig starka i Indien under de senaste decennierna har haft på radikaliseringen av denna grupp. Avsikten har varit att bidra med en fördjupad insikt om de processer som bidrar till en polarisering mellan en utgrupp (det hindunationalistiska styret) och en ingrupp (de unga muslimska aktivisterna) och genom jämförelse av olika radikaliseringsteorier utröna vilka eventuella skillnader och svagheter dessa teorier har. Med hjälp av en deduktiv metod och en hermeneutisk ansats har tre förklaringsmodeller jämförts och analyserats. Resultatet visar att radikalisering är en komplex process där både inre psykologiska och yttre sociala faktorer samspelar. Den hindunationalistiska diskurs som vuxit sig allt starkare i Indien under senare år har bidragit till att etnicitet och religion i allt större utsträckning hörs i en debatt som tidigare mest handlat om rätten till självbestämmande. De tre förklaringsmodeller som här analyserats visar att staten har en avgörande roll att spela i radikaliseringsprocessen. Slutsatsen är att det finns ett starkt samband mellan utgruppens användande av statssanktionerat våld och ingruppens radikalisering. I kampen mot terrorism är statsmakten med och skapar det polariserade klimat och de våldsaccepterande radikala grupper som den sedan investerar mycket tid och resurser för att bekämpa. Jag visar nedan hur den indiska staten under decennier besvarat kashmiriernas krav på rätt till självbestämmande med ökad militär närvaro, minskad autonomi och ökat militärt våld. Den intensiva militariseringen av området och förvägran av befolkningens rätt till självbestämmande har haft en stor inverkan på hur unga muslimer i Kashmir organiserar motstånd och en anledning till varför de kommit att se våld som en nödvändig del av detta motstånd. Ingen av de tre valda teorierna förklarar dock varför endast ett litet fåtal av befolkningen i området deltar i våldsamt motstånd mot det upplevda förtrycket. / The purpose of this comparative literature study has been to compare theories about the social and psychological processes that may contribute to young Muslims in Indian-led Kashmir being drawn to radical groups and to examine what impact the Hindu nationalist movement, which have grown strong in India in recent years, have had on the radicalization of this group. The intention has been to contribute with an in-depth insight into the processes that contribute to a polarization between an out-group group (the Hindu nationalist government) and an in-group (the young Muslim activists) and by comparing different radicalization theories to find out what differences and weaknesses these theories have. Using a deductive method and a hermeneutic approach, three explanatory models have been compared and analyzed. The results show that radicalization is a complex process in which both internal psychological and external social factors interact. The Hindu nationalist discourse, which has grown stronger in India in recent years, has contributed to ethnicity and religion being heard to an increasing extent in a debate that in the past was mostly about the right to self-determination. The three explanatory models analyzed here show that the state has a crucial role to play in the radicalization process. The conclusion is that there is a strong connection between the out-group's use of state-sanctioned violence and the in-group’s level of radicalization. In the fight against terrorism, the state is contributing to the polarized climate and the emergence of violence-accepting radical groups, which it then invests a lot of time and resources in combating. I show below how the Indian state for decades has responded to the Kashmiris' demands for the right to self-determination with increased military presence, reduced autonomy and increased military violence. The intense militarization of the area and the denial of the population's right to self-determination have had a major impact on how young Muslims in Kashmir organize resistance and a reason why they have come to see violence as a necessary part of this resistance. However, none of the three chosen theories explains why only a small minority of the population in the area participates in violent resistance against the oppressors.

On May 16, 1998, under the directives of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition, the Indian government detonated three nuclear bombs in the Rajasthan desert, near a site called Pokhran.1 If the name of India’s inter-ballistic missile, Agni, the god of fire in the Vedic tradition, is inscribed in antiquity, its symbolism in 1998 was entirely new, reflecting the rise of a political party that emblematizes a chauvinistic, majoritarian stance.2 To celebrate India’s accomplishment, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a sister organization of the BJP, ordered the construction of a temple dedicated to Shakti, the goddess of strength, some fifty kilometers away from the testing site.3 The decision is an apt example of Hindutva ideologues’ use of the feminine metaphor of “innate strength” to legitimize aggression against external forces. Shortly after the nuclear tests, Bal Thackerey, the chairman of the Shiv Sena, a Mumbai-based Hindu nationalist ally of the BJP, declared that Hindus were no longer eunuchs—a notion that traces its roots back to the Mughal period which spanned three centuries.4 Thackerey’s statement ironically subverted the idea of female power and reiterated the masculinist theme that has animated Hindu nationalism since its inception in the 1920s. Hindutva’s sacralization of aggression had an anticipated consequence: Pakistan retaliated by exploding five nuclear bombs on May 28, 1998.5

Thesis (D.Min.)--Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, 2009. / Title from dissertation title page (viewed Apr. 19, 2010). Includes abstract. "A project report and thesis submitted to the Faculty of Brite Divinity School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Far East, Southeast Asia and The Pacific))--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Chatterjee, Anshu ; Kapur, Samir. "June 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 10, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Party politics, National identity, Hindu Nationalism, Hinduism, Hindutva, Sangh Parivar, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, VHP, Bharatiya Jana Sangh, BJS, Ayodhya campaign, Kashmir case.. Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-134). Also available in print.

In contemporary politics it is argued there exists a friction and contradiction between the right-wing, conservative parties that are gaining prominence around the world, among them BJP in India, and the feminist movement; one movement striving for the preservation of traditions and the other for change. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and compare differences in how a political party with strong affiliation and background in a nationalistic ideology communicates laws which affect women’s opportunities for societal advancement, doing this by analysing the religious, cultural and symbolic aspects of Hindutva ideology. Do they contradict each other? Through qualitative discourse analysis a comparative case study is performed on the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act of 2017, BJP political manifestos, excerpts from books and statements made by BJP leaders and affiliated key persons. The thesis presents the argument that the two discourses present contradicting ideas of women’s societal participation when analysed through a theoretical framework based on gender ideals; one set of material pointing to the importance of their economic and societal integration, and one on the importance of women’s role as mothers, and her protection. The study adds a different perspective on the friction between nationalistic Hindutva beliefs and contemporary, progressive legislation by analysing key concepts of gender ideals drawn from Hinduism and the Hindutva movement.

The thesis examines the Hindutva movement as a rhetorical text to understand how it contributes to the rhetorical study of social movements. The Hindutva movement is a mass movement that has grown in influence and in number in the last thirty years and its final goal is to wage a battle to create a Hindu rashtra (nation) in India with a monolithic Hindu culture. The rhetorical texts of V.D. Savarkar and M.S. Golwalkar are analyzed with Burkean guiltredemption-purification cycle. These rhetorical tools provide an insight into the guiding question of this thesis: how Savarkar and Golwalkar use rhetoric in ways that justify and motivate audiences to accept violence in order to restore a Hindu Nation.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the Indian Hindu nationalist concept of “love jihad”, an idea based upon the alleged fact that Muslim men actively seeks out non-Muslim women for conversion to Islam by various methods including, false promises of love and abductions. While the accusation that Muslims are conducting love jihad currently is being propagated by several active Hindu nationalist groups, the focus of this paper lies on the Viśva Hindū Pariṣad (VHP) and the Rāṣṭrīya Svayaṃsevak Saṃgh (RSS), two major branches within the so-called family of Hindu nationalist organisations, or the Saṃgh Parivār. The material primarily con-sists of articles pertaining to love jihad, published in each organisation’s mouthpiece magazines. Utilising theories on Indian nationalism placed within a structure of analysing propaganda, based on the propaganda model of Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, this paper investigates the idea of love jihad in relation to the VHP and RSS constructs of Indian identities.

The Ayodhya dispute with the following wave of Hindutva has resulted in a rising number of Hindu claims of Mosques getting raised in other places in Uttar Pradesh as well. This thesis presents a suggestion for understanding these types of claims by analyzing the Gyanvapi Mosque dispute through the theoretical framework of violences of development. In order to present a context for the formation of the dispute, the political development of Hindutva is mapped, firstly by exploring the uprising of the ideology and later the transgression of the Hindutva ideology into new spheres. The spatial transgression of Hindutva is further explored in the analysis of the interconnection between the current development discourse and Hindutva. In doing this, the paper analyzes material from both Hindu and English newspapers through the framework of violences of development and suggests spatial displacement, marginalization and erosion of heritage as important components of the Gyanvapi Mosque dispute.

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the Mumbai-based Hindu nationalist and regionalist/nativist political party Shiv Sena communicates about minorities through the Hindi version of its daily newspaper Saamana. After giving a brief introduction to Shiv Sena and the Hindu nationalist movement in India, the editorial articles published in the period Mon. 8/2-Sun. 14/2 2016 are analyzed within a theoretical framework based on Foucault and the idea that the public discourse itself is a field of battle where different actors can and do contest what is socially possible to express. The articles – as far as they are concerned with minorities – are found to be mainly preoccupied with Muslims, which are associated with Pakistan and terrorists and pictured as potentially fanatic and disloyal to the nation. / <p>Kandidatuppsats i indologi</p>