Communitarian and minoritarian perspectives in Urdu newspaper discourse from 1985 2019

Abstract

newline This thesis is a work on communitarian and minoritarian perspectives in the domain of Urdu newlinenewspapers, using the themes of modern science, personal law, secularism and nationalism. newlineThe dominant perspective in the mainstream media and academic discourse about Muslims in newlineIndia is usually minoritarian which depicts the community as aggrieved and marginalized, at newlinethe risk of being besieged by the dominant other . But the lesser known or largely unexplored newlineperspective is the communitarian one which highlights such issues of the community which newlineare not specific to a minority community. These are issues faced by any faith-based community newlinethat struggles to sustain its shared values against modern liberal virtues, a struggle that newlinerepresents the tension between the situated self and the unencumbered self , to use Michael newlineSandel s terms. Urdu newspapers have been found to be representing the same tension between newlinethe imagined Indian Muslim community and modern phenomena and the values associated newlinewith them that stand to challenge the shared values of the former. Apart from throwing light newlineon this communitarian issue, the thesis also explores in the discourse of Urdu newspapers, the newlinecommunitarian aspiration to live and peacefully co-exist with the other , an aspiration which newlineis so relevant in a multi-cultural nation like India. Delving into the interpretation of the newlinediscourse of five popular Urdu newspapers and covering the period from 1985 to 2019, this newlinethesis reflects on the contradictions expressed in the communitarian and minoritarian newlineperspectives on how Muslims in India ought to be addressing their issues. While doing so, the newlinethesis also probes into how while articulating itself on the four themes addressed in the chapters newlineof the thesis, the Urdu newspaper discourse is often dominated by the minoritarian perspective newlinebut not without a communitarian voice to compete with it.