Recognizing diversity: Establishing religious difference in Pakistan and Israel

Birnbaum, Maria Rebecca (2020). Recognizing diversity: Establishing religious difference in Pakistan and Israel. In: Phillips, Andrew; Reus-Smit, Christian (eds.) Culture and Order in World Politics. LSE International Studies (pp. 250-270). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10.1017/9781108754613.012

Text Birnbaum_Culture_and_Order_Proofs.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (698kB) | Request a copy

Using the international recognition of Israel and Pakistan as case studies, the chapter probes the terms of recognizability in the modern liberal order, asking how religion became a recognizable criterion for sovereign statehood. It digs below the workings of the post-1945 diversity regime, arguing that, epistemologically, religion came to be knowable within the dominant frame of ‘nation’, but in the process it would become increasingly hollowed out and emptied of content, while simultaneously be tied to the thick, essential idea of collective belonging. Viewing the recognitions of Israel and Pakistan in the contexts of their imperial pasts, and analysing the two international commissions that shaped their statehood, the chapter shows how emerging modes of cultural recognition built on and sedimented very particular versions of 'religion' and funnelled certain aspects of social, political, and cultural life into coherent, representable, and recognizable forms of religious difference. By looking in detail at the epistemological politics of cultural diversity, the chapter exposes the costs that come with the diversity regimes’ recognition of cultural difference.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

5 since deposited on 20 Apr 2021
2 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item