Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, Dr Ashok Kumar Mocherla and Dr Alison Halford
In December 2019 students at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) protested against a new citizenship law that many believed was anti-Muslim. The protesters included Muslim women studying at these universities. Female non-sectarian activists from the women’s rights Pinjra Tod (or break the cage) movement and Dalits were among those protesting. The protests were violently quelled. Reportedly minority students were injured, arrested, and a few may have been killed. This led to further protests at universities across India and the rest of the world (including Oxford and Harvard). 400 Indian students studying in various American universities condemned the violence as a gross violation of human rights. Strong concerns continue to be voiced about the quelling of academic freedoms in India.
The AHRC Minorities on Campus research network was conceived due to increasing student protests on university campuses in India. Historically, violence as a form of dissent has not been uncommon on Indian campuses (Altback 1984, Beteille 2010). However of late, Indian campuses have turned into contested spaces for student groups leading to violent incidents over nationalist politics driven by religious and ethnic undertones (Guha 2015). What is striking about the student unrest of the last two years is the frequency and brazenness with which such protests are taking place and the subsequent violence with which student unrest is often quelled. On the one hand, these campus protests and their consequences demonstrate the serious dissipation of equalities, freedoms and ‘Indian secularism’ under the current nationalist politics in India. On the other, the wave of solidarity across diverse student groups suggests that a resilient undercurrent of intersectional student activism attempts to protect these values and rights.
HE campuses are microcosms of their geographical and social contexts (Dinham & Jones 2012). Reflecting national politics, universities in India have become frontlines for ideological and political disputes among and between student groups and faculty. The character of university space is undergoing rapid transformation wherein ‘dissent’ and the political ideologies of diverse minority groups are being branded as anti-national and vikasvirodhi or anti-development. A clear pattern ‘national/anti-national, belonging’ / ‘not belonging’ emerges from university campuses (Guha: 2015).
The Dalit jurist and ‘father’ of the Indian Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, described higher education (HE) as a movement that challenges marginalities, informs revolution and enables equality in society. Yet over 100 years since Ambedkar first wrote about his progressive ideas of education, statistics from the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2018-19 show that all minority groups are underrepresented in HE. They are also often discriminated against and mistreated. Against the backdrop of a complex and diverse minority population (in India), nationalist politics, an authoritarian government and a resilient yet often silenced student voice, this network of scholars was formed. The purpose was to bring together researchers across the globe through workshops to examine and understand lived experiences of diversity, dialogue and disconnection, as experienced by diverse minority groups – religious, ethnic, linguistic, caste, gender – on Indian Higher Education (HE) campuses.
However, the same academic contexts that we seek to research also complicate the process of intellectual exploration. The question remains how does the researcher manoeuvre within a deeply politicised research field while protecting the interests of both the researcher and the researched. From our discussion, two ideas emerge.
Firstly, rather than solely emphasising one particular minority group, which is politicised, it can paradoxically simplify the research process if we focus on diverse minority groups. As our visual map of students protests shows, student protests occur for reasons ranging from gender, religious difference, disgruntlement with university authority and other reasons. Processes of politicisation make it difficult to research protests based on religious differences, however, the catalysts for other forms of student protest may be easier to research.
Secondly, rather than emphasise particular minority groups, we prefer the idea of minoritisation. This term provides a socially-grounded understanding that particular groups of people are minoritised by others rather than naturally existing as a minority (Gunaratnum, 2003). Minoritisation as a term thus emerges from and acknowledges the social power hierarchies within society that determine how various social groups and individuals are perceived within society.
This Research Network questions the social and political processes that position a particular group as a minority and why. Thus, we seek to move away from essentialist notions of particular minority groups in India as problematic. Instead, we take an intersectional approach that includes diverse aspects of minority identity – religious, ethnic, linguistic, women and sexual minorities. We postulate that minority-ness is more fluid and is a function of local politics, regional geographies and historical narratives. Therefore, who is a minority changes as per the contexts within which they are located.
As we near the end of the funded period of this project, we hope that we can continue to discussion and intellectual sharing that we have undertaken via this network. In this regard, we welcome scholars and activists to share their thoughts, ideas and writing with us through this blog. As we continue to grow the network, we are keen to include perspectives from across South Asia and beyond on how the process of minoritisation plays out on university campuses to privilege particular groups and disempower others.
If you would like to contribute to this blog please send an email to Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (ac0967@coventry.ac.uk) with your article (500 to 1500 words) and a short bio (100 words).
Short Bio of the Authors: Ashok, Sariya and Alison lead and co-ordinate the AHRC GCRF Minorities on Campus Research Network