Ideology and Muslim militancy in India: Selected case studies of the 1857 Indian rebellion

<p>This thesis examines the ways in which ideologies of royalism, militarism, and Jihad influenced the behaviour of contending Muslim factions in the 1857 Indian rebellion. The historiography has focused almost exclusively on the ideological motivation of Muslims who fought against the East India Company, with little mention of the large number of Punjabi Muslims and North West Frontier Pathans who chose to collaborate with the British against their co-religionists. The dominant themes of anti-colonialism, nationalism, proto-nationalism and Jihad that emerge in the literature overlook the role of moderating factors that link ideology to behaviour. Another tendency has been to apply the essentially modern concepts of nationalism and its variants to a pre-modern Indian Muslim setting. This thesis addresses these gaps by providing a framework for analysing the ideological functions of royalism, militarism and Jihad for both pro and anti-British Muslims. Drawing on insights from political and cognitive approaches of decision-making, this study demonstrates how the dynamics of information processing moderated the relationship between these ideologies and the combat behaviour of the belligerents. It finds that the process produced different outcomes of behaviour for the key individuals and groups in the 1857 rebellion. The methodology employed is comparative case studies of four regions with the most active Muslim resistance and collaboration groups. This thesis hopes to contribute to the growing literature on new approaches to the study of the 1857 Indian rebellion.</p>

Ideology and Muslim militancy in India: Selected case studies of the 1857 Indian rebellion

<p>This thesis examines the ways in which ideologies of royalism, militarism, and Jihad influenced the behaviour of contending Muslim factions in the 1857 Indian rebellion. The historiography has focused almost exclusively on the ideological motivation of Muslims who fought against the East India Company, with little mention of the large number of Punjabi Muslims and North West Frontier Pathans who chose to collaborate with the British against their co-religionists. The dominant themes of anti-colonialism, nationalism, proto-nationalism and Jihad that emerge in the literature overlook the role of moderating factors that link ideology to behaviour. Another tendency has been to apply the essentially modern concepts of nationalism and its variants to a pre-modern Indian Muslim setting. This thesis addresses these gaps by providing a framework for analysing the ideological functions of royalism, militarism and Jihad for both pro and anti-British Muslims. Drawing on insights from political and cognitive approaches of decision-making, this study demonstrates how the dynamics of information processing moderated the relationship between these ideologies and the combat behaviour of the belligerents. It finds that the process produced different outcomes of behaviour for the key individuals and groups in the 1857 rebellion. The methodology employed is comparative case studies of four regions with the most active Muslim resistance and collaboration groups. This thesis hopes to contribute to the growing literature on new approaches to the study of the 1857 Indian rebellion.</p>

Living together: An integrated acculturation–contact strategy to promote ethnic harmony between young British Muslims and Anglo-Britons

Acculturation theorists have proposed that minority and majority members’ endorsement of the cultural integration orientation should positively impact their mutual intergroup relations. To examine this claim, the study develops and experimentally tests a vicarious intercultural contact strategy designed to promote integration endorsement among a sample of 379 British youths (aged between 18 and 21 years), of whom 172 were British Muslims and 207 were White British. In line with theoretical expectations, results revealed that integration attained through vicarious contact, relative to a control condition, reduced respondents’ negative emotions, increased their positive emotions and inclusion of the other in the self (IOS), and improved their outgroup attitudes. These effects were only present in the Muslim group. Integration effects on outgroup attitude outcomes were mediated by intergroup emotions and IOS. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

The scope and limits of combatting violent extremism in the United Kingdom

This article situates the debate on the United Kingdom’s Prevent policy in the broader framework of the global paradigm for countering violent extremism (CVE), which appeared at the end of 2015. It argues that omission of a nuanced focus on the social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics of radicalised people has led to a tendency to introduce blanket measures which, inadvertently and indirectly, have had harmful results. Moreover, although Prevent has been the fundamental element of the British government’s counterterrorist strategy since 2006, it confuses legitimate political resistance of young British Muslims with signs of violent extremism, thus giving credence to the argument that Prevent is a form of social engineering which, in the last instance, pacifies resistance by reaffirming the status quo in the country’s domestic and foreign policy.

ANTIGONE FOR THE AGE OF TERROR: TRANSTEXTUALITY IN KAMILA SHAMSIE’S HOMEFIRE

Purpose: The current qualitative study attempts to explore intertextuality in Kamila Shamsie’s novel Homefire, published in 2017. This paper attempts to analyze the role it plays in the creation and understanding of meaning by employing Gerard Genette’s theory of Intertextuality (Genette’s Transtextuality). Methodology: For this purpose, the study is conducted from the postmodern theoretical perspective of Intertextuality. Homefire is a modern retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone. The novel captures the enigma of British Muslims struggling to defend their loyalty to the crown while maintaining their unique cultural and religious identities, in the wake of rising islamophobia in Britain. Main Findings: The study finds that the interwoven intertextuality not only provides a basic framework for the plot and characters, but also juxtaposes the ancient world with the contemporary world along with the invariable conflicts, complexities, and similarities. Implications: This study shows that the face of human conflict might get changed but the integral emotions and conflicts remain the same. This implies that using intertextual references enhances the text with poignant meanings through ages. Novelty/Originality: Homefire as a recent text talking about islamophobia in Britain being a retelling of a classical Sophocles play is something that.

Why some Muslims Engaged in Violence: A militarised Mentality

Since 9/11 countering different types of violence through CVE and PVE programs have become a central policy concern for many in the Western and non-Western countries such as the UK, France, the United States and Indonesia. These countries have launched various CVE and PVE programs to prevent what scholars call radicalisation and de-radicalise those dammed to have been radicalised. These programs' focus is often to build community resilience and persuade individuals to adopt a liberal or state-oriented understanding of Islam. However, how successful these programs are is not clear. In some cases, these programs have been counterproductive because they have fostered Islamophobia and mistrust, as is the case with the UK's Prevent strategy. This paper will take the UK as a case study and propose a non-religious conceptual framework by using strain and fusion theory and interview data to explain why some British Muslims decided to engage in terrorism. In doing so, the paper will argue that if the UK government is to prevent such decisions, it needs to focus on addressing the socio-political causes that engender motivations to engage in terrorism.

The Performance of Multilingual and ‘Ultralingual’ Devotional Practices by Young British Muslims

This book examines the wide range of multilingual devotional performances engaged in by young Muslims in the UK today. It evaluates the contemporary mosque school in the UK and contrasts this with practices from the past and with prevailing discourses (both political and other) which suggest that such institutions are problematic.