Which god’s own country? A spatial history of Hindu-Christian tensions in modern Kerala

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6420091
AutoresHarikrishnan (autor de correspondencia), S Harikrishnan (0000-0002-7509-0712, Dublin City University, autor de correspondencia), Harikrishnan Sasikumar (0000-0001-8862-6590, Dublin City University)
Año2025
Volumen63
Número1
Páginas52-71
Fecha de publicación2025-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCommonwealth and Comparative Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1466-2043 • E-ISSN: 1743-9094
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14662043.2025.2498778
OpenAlexW4410514856
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas21

Kerala has long resisted the ambitions of the Bharatiya Janata Party in India; a state where despite a large grassroots presence of the Sangh Parivar, the BJP has enjoyed little electoral success. Previous scholarship has attributed this to the peculiar demography in Kerala which makes it difficult to consolidate Hindu sentiment, or to a ‘secular political culture’ nurtured by the socio-religious reform movements and the strong presence of communism. In recent years, the BJP in Kerala has tried to remedy this through outreach to Christian communities to position them as allies against a common ‘Muslim other’. This article looks at Hindu–Christian encounters from the nineteenth century to the present to argue that these attempts can be read productively as rhetorical and strategic. Through an analysis of key incidents, I argue that historically, advocates of Hindutva forces have considered Kerala to possess a ‘sacred geography’ for Hindus, where other identities are seen as invasive

Ancient history · Geography · Hinduism · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Philosophy · Religious studies · Social and Economic Development in India · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies