South Asian Orient: Colonial Epistemological Inquiry and its Modern Connections

As analysts assume that the South Asian regional political environment is difficult to comprehend due to its ethnic divisions and lingual bifurcations as the region hosts more than one and half billion inhabitants divided into India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Geographic diversity makes this region unique from all other regions in the world as it is bordered off the Persian Gulf and Arab world through the Indian ocean and opened up from Central Asia to the northern hemisphere. Such a racial, geographic, cultural, lingual and religious diversification had undergone epistemological inquiry during the colonial period in order to devise a central administrative system of regulating Raj’s affairs for the upcoming global world. Therefore, there emerged a unique sense of exploring the unfathomability and multiplicity of the scattering communalities. Through employing Edward W. Said’s critical framework, the present study exposes main theoretical Orientalist formulations by deconstructing major Western theories on South Asian cultures, geography and societies along with its connectivity to the overlapping of global power interests in the present world.

Relationship Between Language and Ethnicity with Special Reference to Baloch Tribes in Pakistan

This Qualitative, Ethnographic inquiry is done to explore the relationship between Language and Ethnicity as a Negotiated Construct with special reference to Baloch Community in Pakistan. Baloch is a distinct ethnic group for the reason that despite speaking four different languages i.e Balochi, Brahvi, Saraiki and Sindhi, the members of the group identify themselves as one ethnic group `Baloch'. In other words Baloch are multilingual and monoethnic. Baloch are 3.3 % of the total population of Pakistan and Balochistan makes 43% of the total area of the country. The group as a whole basically resides in three countries i.e Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan but 70% of them live in Pakistan and the population concentrates in Balochistan, where a small population is scattered over a large area. The ethnography is done in the backdrop of the current social, political, cultural and ethnic situation in Balochistan. The data is collected in Quetta, the capital city of the province. Observation being the essential instrument for ethnographic research is supplemented by Semi Structured, in-depth Interviews and open and closed ended Questionnaires. Further, Smolicz's Cultural Core Value theory and Tajfel's Social Identity Theory have been taken up as a guiding theoretical and analytical framework for this study. The fundamental investigation lies in answering the set research questions by finding out the `cultural/ethnic core Value' of the group through exploring the role of language in the formation, maintenance and assertion of ethnic identity. Evaluation of ethnicity markers and situations that strengthen the in-group bonding also form an integral part of this study. The findings show that language is an important but not an essential marker of ethnic identity and significance of language can vary within a single group. There are many social factors and cultural elements other than language alone that determine the ethnic identity of the group and its in-group bonding.