1998/12/01 by Francis Robinson · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East #South Asian Studies and Conflicts #Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography #Empire #Independence (probability theory) #Identity (music) #British Empire #State (computer science) #Politics #South asia #History #Ancient history #Political economy #Sociology #Political science #Law #Art #Aesthetics
paper · doi:10.2307/3679298
openalex publication_date 1998/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/17
British Empire in India saw major transformations in the identities of its Indian subjects. The growth of the modern state, the introduction of new systems of knowledge, the expansion of capitalist modes of production, and the spread of communications of all forms—railway, telegraph, post, press—made possible the fashioning of all kinds of new identities at local, regional and supra-regional levels. One of the identities which developed most strikingly was the Muslim. Indeed, at independence in 1947 it gained the particular accolade of embracing its own modern state in the shape of Pakistan. This political outcome, however, was just part of an extraordinary series of developments in Muslim identities under British rule which shed light not just on the nature of British rule but also on major changes at work in Muslim society.