Religious Identity (Kelsey Hunter, Week 12 Substantive)

I found the Beth Roy piece to be very interesting, especially her use of the accounts of different people, Hindus, Muslims, and Namasudras to tell the story of how people conceptualize their history and identity. Each person she spoke with had a slightly different version of the riot in Panipur that was crafted out of their own "experience" of the event that was based on their religious and class distinctions, but also that Roy says was altered through time with each telling because of the other events that had happened since then. Further she addresses the idea that "collective memory" is a "social action... and is part and parcel of every historical act" (24). The idea of collective memory, to me at least, often follows very strict lines of identity and of self versus other. Almost every account of history has a bias, whether based on nationality, religion, gender, because history can be used as a tool to create a sense of unity, commonality, nationalism, etc.

Roy moved on in the chapter on identity to ask why the riot broke out between such specifically defined communities on religious lines- Hindu versus Muslim. She says that religion overlaps both the public and private spheres, which is why it is so powerful in determining community lines. Religion dictates how to dress, conduct home life, what to eat, how to worship, etc. I think the reason religion is so divisive is because it overlaps the public and private spheres. First it creates a sense of community inside and outside the home, people can identify themselves as clearly belonging to one religious group or another. Once a conflict starts however, religion is a community rallying point, but also because it is part of private (domestic) life, the conflict spills into the home. The reason people become so emotional and violent during religiously based conflict could be that they see the other side as personally attacking their way of life, not only as a community but as a private citizen. This is also why the differences between religious groups that are focused on the most in times of conflict are those that are ordinary and domestic- what people eat, wear, etc. The examples given by the storytellers in Roy's piece confirms that idea.