En/gendering Language

The Poetics of Tamil Identity

Bibliographic Data

ID2107947
AuthorsSumathi Ramaswamy (California University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author)
Year1993
Volume35
Issue4
Pages683-725
Publication date1993-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417500018673
OpenAlexW2116582492
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited55

Since the publication of Benedict Anderson'sImagined Communitiesalmost a decade ago, historians and anthropologists have become accustomed to think of the nation-that bedrock of our existence as moderns-as an imagined entity.1Yet it is problematic, at least to this author, that while the spotlight is (once again) on the nation, the other key actor in Anderson's formulation, the language through which a specific nation is subjectively conceived and imagined, appears to have been relegated to the sidelines. By proposing that languages, too, be considered cultural and symbolic entities that are themselves enrolled into projects of imagination, this essay assumes its beginnings in questions provoked by Anderson's analysis. Because languages themselves are subjected to multiple imaginations, how indeed can they enable the harmonious and contention-free imagination of communities? How indeed do they acquire the capacity to generate feelings of 'contemporaneity,' 'solidarity,' and 'belonging,' as Anderson proposes? Do they not just as well have the power to scatter and disaggregate such sentiments? These are questions occasioned by more than just theoretical curiosity. In many parts of the world, the diverse imaginations that cling to languages have frequently sparked off contestation, divisiveness, and even violence, especially in multi-lingual pluralities like India, the focus of this article

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Feeling · Focus (optics · Identity (music · Linguistics · Poetics · Poetry · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Solidarity · Tamil · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Conflicts

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