The State, Religion, and Ethnic Politics Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Edited by Ali Banuazizi and Myron Weiner. Syracuse University Press (1407 AH/1987 AC). Published simultaneously by Vanguard Books Ltd. , Pakistan. pp. 390.

Abstract

As the ideas of struggle against imperialism and class were prominent
among social scientists a generation ago, those of ethnicity are in the forefront
today. Ethnicity-language, race, folk culture, food, etc., cut across class
and sect. In Africa and Asia it has assumed violent political shape, succeeding
in creating nations like Bangladesh or seriously disrupting them as in the
case of (Sri Lanka).
The interrelationship of ethnicity with the state and religion are explored
in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan in the book. It is the very fuzziness of
these central concepts - state, religion, ethnicity - that creates so much heat
around their discussion. The theoretical linkages between the concepts in
these three states are clear. Not so clear is the method to resolve tensions
between them. A book, then, which brings together “an outstanding group
of anthropologists, historians, political scientists and Islamicists” promises
value.
Fourteen distinguished academics have combined to produce the contents
of the book. Some cannot resist the pitfall into which social scientists are
wont to plummet, i.e., the use of impenetrably recondite jargon: “Whatever
the particular criterion for group identity, inquiry into the relationship of
ethnic groups to the larger sociocultural systems of which they are a part
ought to rest on the ‘situational’ approach to ethnicity” (P. Higgins: p.169).
Mercifully this kind of language is restricted.
African and Asian scholars will be quick to apply the label “Orientalist”
to some of the participants. Others will note that the 4 authors of the chapters
on Pakistan are non-Muslims; an observation not entirely irrelevant about
a book on ethnicity and religion. This kind of emotionalism however, must
not be allowed to distract from the quality of the work. The papers are scholarly,
and most are based on a life-time’s work. They attempt to discuss the central
issues in complex and changing societies.
The editors, in a comprehensive and useful introduction, lay out their ...