Asian Borderlands, no. 3. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; Chicago: The University of Chicago Press [distributor], 2017. 182 pp. (Tables, map, B&W photos.) US$99.00, cloth. ISBN 978-9089-64-886-0.
In what ways does ethnicity matter to democratic politics? How are ethnic identities transformed into political resources? And how does democracy, in turn, frame the political mobilization of ethnic identities? Chettri’s new book explores these questions from the perspective of the eastern Himalayan borderland. The book ably guides the reader through the complex, interconnected ethnic politics of Darjeeling, Sikkim, and eastern Nepal.
Thematically, Constructing Democracy dovetails with two current scholarly concerns: the vernacularization of democracy and borderland politics and identity. The introduction indexes the major debates around ethnicity and democracy, taking up issues such as the malleability of ethnic identities, primordialism vs. instrumentalism, and the relationship between self-ascribed and state-certified identities. Chettri proposes that we see a “dialectic relationship between ethnicity and politics … sustained by an overarching structure that promises material as well as cultural benefits, and at the same time promotes the use of ethnic identity as a resource for political patronage” (29). In line with the basic thesis of the vernacularization of democracy, Chettri further argues that democracy “provides a legitimate outlet through which to articulate ethnic grievances,” a process which “makes democracy more inclusive and relevant in the lives of the people of the eastern Himalaya” (17).
Chapter 1 gives a historical background to the formation of Nepali ethnic identity in the eastern Himalayan borderland, deftly weaving together histories that are usually compartmentalized within national and state boundaries. Chapter 2 takes up the central question of why various forms of existential grievances have come to be framed in the language of ethnicity, analyzing how ethnic marginalization at the hands of the state has fuelled ethnic politics in eastern Nepal and Darjeeling, while state dependency and affirmative action have fuelled ethnic politics in Sikkim. Chapter 3 sets out to explore what makes political actors “choose a particular ethnic identity over others” (95). Chapter 4 passes over some of the same ground, albeit from the perspective of ethnicity’s material and public manifestations. Chapter 5 discusses the connection between democracy and ethnicity, aiming to dispel the notion that ethnic identity is the “anti-thesis of modern political systems” (140).
Constructing Democracy provides an intriguing look into the political mobilization of ethnic identities in a borderland criss-crossed by social and cultural connections. The strength of the book lies in the broad and complex empirical picture it draws. Chettri’s own background in the borderland and strong intellectual and emotional engagement with its inhabitants lends the text a welcome, positional immediacy. Good fieldwork observations and well-situated quotes, especially in chapters 2 and 4, allow the reader to get a real sense of ethnicity’s social and political life beyond what can be conveyed in clear-cut conclusions. Here, we get a good feel for the “thickness” of Chettri’s empirical material.
Unfortunately, other parts of the book do not always allow sufficient room for this material to speak to the reader and the level of generality at which the analysis is framed leads to some internal contradictions. While the book generally emphasizes the malleability and continuously constructed character of ethnic identity, the first chapter seems to treat ethnic group formation as a one-off historical event and thus to reify the “Nepali” ethnicity as a fixed entity available for political mobilization across the borderland. This appears odd, not least when seen from the perspective of Nepal, where the term “Nepali” does not indicate an ethnic identity, but rather a national identity, often at odds with various ethnic identities.
More importantly, the book’s argument for the importance of ethnic politics could have been strengthened by a discussion of the alternative roads not taken, avoiding the functionalist logic that seems to be at play from time to time. With reference to Darjeeling, for instance, Chettri notes that “the prevalence of attachment to the Gorkha identity highlights its efficacy as a political resource for mass mobilisation in the face of which all alternative forms of identity are politically impotent” (102). This is an important statement, but it raises more questions than it answers. What are the “alternative forms of identity” that have been sidelined by ethnic politics somewhere along the way? I am thinking here, particularly, of the class-based mobilization of Communist political movements prevalent in both Nepal and Darjeeling. As one of Chettri’s informants from Nepal states: “…using ethnic ideology and slogans the exploiter class has equated the deprived class with an ethnic category…ethnic politics…has become more important that class politics” (149). A further exploration of how this has been accomplished could be a fruitful line for future work.
Finally, the book’s argument that ethnic politics provides a successful vernacularization of democracy raises further questions. Clearly, the notion of the vernacularization of democracy provides an important counterpoint to a democracy literature that is traditionally all too focused on the supposedly universal—but clearly provincial—experiences of Europe and North America. Nevertheless, it remains somewhat unclear in the book who champions the idea that ethnic identity is the “anti-thesis of modern political systems” (140). Here, the analysis could have benefitted from a little more conceptual clarity as to what we can consider democratic. How does the assertion of vernacular democracy, for instance, square with the violence and intimidation that is also part of ethnic politics in the eastern Himalaya? And in what sense is it democracy—rather than political patronage and affirmative action—that frames and shapes ethnic politics?
In summary, Constructing Democracy provides a valuable introduction to ethnic politics in the Himalayan borderland, suitable to students and policy makers alike. As the questions outlined in this review indicate, there are a number of fruitful pathways leading out from the book. Given the thick engagement with the area that Chettri’s work displays, we can only look forward to her future publications.
Rune Bennike
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark