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Most states in South Asia are multi-cultural in character. In the post-colonial phase of their existence, they were confronted with the twin problems of state and nation building. While the former involved building institutions of governance the latter necessitated efforts to achieve unity in diversity. States seeking to construct a monolithic identity amalgamating diverse linguistic, religion and ethnic identities faced the challenge of integrating the minorities. In view of the overlapping cultural spaces cutting across state borders, such homogenization efforts led to spilling over of ethnic conflicts across states. The borders thus became new frontiers of such contested identities— national versus sub-national. It was natural, therefore, for discourses on interstate relations to be enmeshed in arguments in favour of, and against, pluri-cultural national identities. Recognition of plurality was often misconstrued as shedding of sovereignty to other states which housed same ethno-linguistic and cultural communities. While in many cases such geo-cultural continuity and commonality have led to inter-state tension and conflicts, there is distinct possibility of culture playing an integrative role and creating and propelling regional integration in South Asia or at least playing a positive role in contributing to bilateral relations.
As South Asian states are pushing for regional integration, culture has emerged as a force to connect, to build relations and heal the ruptures created by history and politics. As cultural actors challenge the territorial limits that nation-states impose on culture, they engender new possibilities of states caving in to their demands and using their borders as bridges rather than barriers. William Van Schendel in his path breaking work titled as The Bengal Borderland: Beyond State and Nation in South Asia identifies the beginnings of such a change when he argues that “territoriality is being re-scaled by states that should be seen as active partners in global restructuring and not as passive victims of deterritorialisation”. However, it may take a long time for such process to mature in the region as the nation states in South Asia continue to be apprehensive of cultural connectivity across states which is perceived to be ‘deterritorialising’ the process of construction of exclusive nation-states.
Nevertheless, there are several developments which signal a movement in that direction. The nation-states in South Asia in spite of their exclusive nation building projects, are succumbing to the process of globalisation and revolution in the information technology that has propelled emergence of the new media. Cultural contacts and social interactions no more require state sanctions and visas; rather the netizens have been able to dilute the exclusivity that they imbibed through their political socialisation and textbook education. Television channels, movies and visits by cultural troupes have contributed to the cultural connectivity even across ethno-cultural groups.
Even if culture has so far been used in South Asia sparingly and cautiously as a foreign policy tool, the use of culture as a connecting tool is quite noticeable in recent years. There are efforts today to jointly produce movies especially in the India Pakistan context; effort is also being made to make people to people contact part of bilateral as well as regional agenda. Recently Tagore 150th birth centenary was celebrated by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Nazrul birth anniversary were jointly celebrated by India and Bangladesh. The old Buddhist tourism circuit is being revived to link up with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the wider world. Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India are taking steps to celebrate their common cultural heritages. There are many in Pakistan who are trying to revive, re-establish and reinvent their past socio-cultural connectivity with India. In the words of Yousef Lapid and Fredrich Kratochwil in their book The Return of Culture and identity in IR Theory write, “The forces disposing states towards particularism, however, sometimes confront others disposing them towards collectivism”. Therefore, it can be argued that “culture” is staging a comeback in inter-state and regional politics and it could help states to overcome years of mutual mistrust and push the process of regional integration forward.
The 9th South Asia Dialogue being hosted by IDSA in 2015 seeks to focus on how India and its South Asian neighbours perceive their common cultural heritage and to what extent inter-state cultural linkages will help the nation states establish a new of trust and understanding and help construct a new regional identity. Some of the questions this conference aims to look at are:
0930-1000hrs: Registration and Tea
1000-1030: Inauguration,
Chair: Amb Jayant Prasad, Director General, IDSA
Keynote speaker: Dr Karan Singh, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
1030-1045: Tea Break
1045-1300hrs – Session 1: Cultural Profile of South Asia and Foreign Policy
Chair: Amb Virendra Gupta
1300-1400hrs: Lunch
1400-1730hrs – Session 2: Culture as a Soft Power: Can it further Regional Cooperation?
Chair: Amb Suresh Goel, former DG, Indian Council of Cultural Relations
Day II, November 27, 2015
0930-1000 hrs Tea and Registration
1000-1230 hrs – Session 3: Culture, Identity and Politics and its Impact on Bilateral Relations
Chair: Amb P. Stobdan, Senior Fellow, IDSA
1230-1345 hrs: Group photo & Lunch
1345-1600hrs – Session 4: Culture, Identity and Politics and its Impact on Bilateral Relations (continued)
Chair: Ms. Ajeet Cour, President, Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature
1600-1730 hours- Session 5: Roundtable discussion on Way Forward
Chair: Prof Muchkund Dubey
Speakers
1730-1735: Vote of Thanks by Dr Smruti Pattanaik, Research Fellow, IDSA and Coordinator of the Conference
