Hansen/Curtis, 1/e, Ch



World History in Today's World: Conflict at Ayodhya

This activity corresponds to the "World History in Today's World: Conflict at Ayodhya" feature in your textbook. Once you have answered the Comprehension questions, submit your answers and move on to the subsequent questions included in the Analysis and Outside Sources sections. Each section is designed to build upon the one before it, taking you progressively deeper into the subject you are studying. After you have answered all of the questions, you will have the option of emailing your responses to your instructor.

Introduction

Tensions between ethnic and religious groups within a single country often rise from competing visions of cultural and national legitimacy. For example, some Jewish Zionists argue that their claim to the territory of Israel is more legitimate than that of Palestinians because Jews lived in the region long before Muslim Arabs arrived. Similarly, Hindu nationalists in India often claim that Hindu culture is the true culture of India and that Islam is an alien culture that should be suppressed and expelled. Such arguments tend to resist the observation that the competing cultures have coexisted in the region in question for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, so that both can rightly claim to be indigenous. The links and questions below will help you to consider further the Ayodhya conflict and the broader history of interactions between Hindus and Muslim in India.

Comprehension

1. Why is Ayodhya important to Hindu nationalists?

2. What did the Indian government do at Ayodhya in 1947, just after independence?

3. What touched off Hindu/Muslim conflict in 2002?

Analysis

1. Recall what you have learned of Indian history and society so far. What evidence do you think might support the Hindu nationalist argument that India is essentially a Hindu nation? What evidence do you think suggests otherwise?

2. At what other moments in the history of India you have studied so far have tensions between Hindus and Muslims been high? For what reasons?

3. Go to and read the brief overview of the reigns of Akbar's successors. How did his signature policies change under those successors? How might those changes have set the stage for today's tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India?

Outside Sources

1. Go to and read Part II of the Indian constitution. How does India define citizenship?

2. Read the article at . What view of the Ayodhya controversy does the article give? Do you detect a bias? If so, what is it?

3. Take a look at the following website: . What do you think is the ideological position of the people this site represents? How do you think these people might react to the history of India you have been learning? What evidence leads you to your conclusion?

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