Religious Minorities in Pakistan: Identities, Citizenship and Social Belonging

Maria Magdalena Fuchs*, Simon Wolfgang Fuchs

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorial

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

This introduction to the special section of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, titled ‘Religious Minorities in Pakistan’, reviews the existing scholarship on this topic, points out gaps in the research, and discusses problematic notions and assumptions in both popular and academic discourses on minorities. Furthermore, it attempts a definition of the term ‘religious minority’, demonstrates its extensive entanglement with the question of caste—a characteristic specific to the South Asian case—and situates this discourse within broader debates about post-colonial state-building, the history of sectarianism in the region, contestations over religious authority, and the striving for a coherent political and cultural identity in Pakistan, the second-largest Muslim nation in the world.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)52-67
Number of pages16
JournalSouth Asia: Journal of South Asia Studies
Volume43
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Jan 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 South Asian Studies Association of Australia.

Keywords

  • Ahmadis
  • belonging
  • Christians
  • citizenship
  • Dalits
  • group identities
  • Hindus
  • Pakistan
  • religious minorities
  • Shi‘ites

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