Project description
Nationalism and fascism in interwar western India
The ideology of Hindutva or Hindu nationalism – which ultimately inspired the formation of Bharatiya Janata Party, India's governing party since 2014 – first emerged as a form of the populist extremist right in the interwar period, at the same time as European fascism. Recent study of the relationship between Hindutva and fascism doesn’t focus on the geographical and cultural area of Maharashtra, Hindutva’s birthplace. The EU-funded HINDUTVA-FASCISM project will deepen our understanding of the transnational nature of the radical populist right in the interwar period, the radical right from a comparative and historical perspective, and global fascism as a concept. The project reflects the Horizon 2020 Work Programme’s response to the recent growth of populist movements in Europe and worldwide.
Objective
GLOB-POP-NAT proposes a new study of the transnational links between emerging Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) and
contemporary European fascism in the 1920s-30s. Comprehending Hindutva as a form of populist extremism, through
examining these thinks the project aims at a better understanding of the transnational nature of the radical populist right in
the interwar period; and through this it seeks a better understanding of the radical right in comparative and historical
perspective, and of global fascism as a concept. This project speaks to areas of vital current concern for the European
Union. It reflects the Horizon 2020 Work Programme’s response to the challenge of fostering ‘inclusive, innovative and
reflective societies’, itself a response to the remarkable growth in populist movements in Europe and globally in recent years.
It refers in particular to the European Union policy on 'Racism and Xenophobia’ under its strategic priority of Justice and
Fundamental Rights. The relationship between Hindutva and fascism, which emerged at the same time, has been subject to
recent work, not least because of its timeliness to India’s own politics, and rise to power of the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) since 2014. But this work lacks a focus on the geographical and cultural area which gave birth to
Hindutva: Maharashtra, its western Indian heartland, which gave rise to its major institutions and founding ideologues.
GLOB-POP-NAT fills this major gap in knowledge exhibited in the current state-of-the-art, proposing a vernacular study
to offer in-depth insights on this relationship in Hindutva’s birthplace for the first time, and which the Experienced Researcher
is expertly placed to undertake. The project is also innovative in blending regional and linguistic expertise with an
interdisciplinary study of other aspects of vernacular culture to form a totalizing, holistic understanding of its regional political
culture in the 1920s-1930s.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
30123 Venezia
Italy