Language, Emotion, and Politics in South India: The Making of a Mother Tongue

What makes someone willing to die, not for a nation, but for a language? In the mid-20th century, southern India saw a wave of dramatic suicides in the name of language. Lisa Mitchell traces the colonial-era changes in knowledge and practice linked to the Telugu language that lay behind some of these events. As identities based on language came to appear natural, the road was paved for the political reorganization of the Indian state along linguistic lines after independence.

Author: Lisa Mitchell
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 03/18/2009
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780253220691

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 04/24/2009 pg. 20

About the Author

Lisa Mitchell is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and History in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.