LAUSR

Are Muslims exceptionally resistant to ethnic nationalism? Tristan James Mabry tries to answer this question in Nationalism, Language, and Muslim Exceptionalism. Using case studies from different regions, he rejects the exceptionalist proposition based largely on cases from the Arab world. He explains how Muslim minority populations mobilise themselves either as nationalist or Islamist separatists. The nationalists maintain a robust vernacular print culture fostering a strong ethno-national identity. Since Islamists don’t exclusively rely on the vernacular print culture, Islamism becomes a conduit if the community is not linked by the language and print culture. The author’s research is based on field visits and interviews with separatist Muslim minority organisations. In chapter 3, Mabry explains the connections between the politicisation of language and nationalism. Chapter 4 makes an addition to the understanding of Muslim societies and exceptionalism through the socio-linguistic phenomenon of Diglossia. This means that low vernaculars of the Arab language are marginalised in the public sphere in favour of high Arabic, that is, Modern Standard Arabic. Correspondingly, citizens of Arab states incorporate parallel but politically incompatible varieties of ethno-linguistic identification which Mabry calls di-nationalism. Since the fulcrum for Diglossia remains prestige, education becomes a political exercise and consequently, the exclusivity of Modern Standard Arabic in the public sphere is often considered a competitive disadvantage for the development of ethno-nationalism. The assumption that Islam singularly suppresses ethno-linguistic nationalism is often supported with evidence from the Arab world. This book falsifies this assumption by using six case studies of Muslim minority separatists – Kurds of Iraq, Uyghurs of China, Sindhis of Pakistan, Kashmiris of India, Acehnese of Indonesia and Moros of the Philippines. Mabry contends that Islam has a marked influence on societies which do not have a strong ethno-national bond. The variation in the cases is marked by the role of language and the presence of a print culture in the vernacular language. As Muslim separatist movements in Xinjiang, Sindh and Iraqi Kurdistan are extremely secular, Mabry asserts that it is the presence of a strong print culture that fosters secular ethno-nationalism. In other case studies, the absence of a strong print culture minimises the ethno-political dimensions of a conflict. The author successfully elucidates that non-Arab Muslims are in no way resistant to ethnic nationalism. The lucidly written book makes an important contribution to the study of nationalism. The ideas presented by the author can also help in shaping policy guidelines to resolve political conflicts involving Muslim minorities.