Let My Country Awake? Discovering Hindu (Inter)nationalism in the Indian Diaspora
India is a contradiction: powerful yet anxious, non-Western, postcolonial, inherently religious but avowedly secular, shaped by a complex pattern of linguistic, caste, political, gender and social tensions. These tensions extend into the Indian diaspora, which is entangled in the country's rise and engaged in a conversation that is shaping a Hindu nationalist (or Hindutva) world view. This thesis introduces the concept of Hindu (inter)nationalism and in doing so, makes important theoretical discoveries. In critically engaging with, and applying, post-Western and post-Oriental perspectives, this study provides a pathway towards a better understanding of the non-West. In fact, it encourages the International Relations (IR) discipline to enter a post-Western world. This thesis asks whether postcolonial theory can retain its relevance in a world where 'peripheral' countries (such as India) are making their way to the 'centre'. How, asks this thesis, can postcolonialism deal with changing international dynamics whilst remaining a robust and vital theoretical approach? This research, in focusing on a unique, Hindutva world view prompts IR theory to use such views more frequently to better understand the international relations of countries. Finally, this thesis suggests that IR ought to consider reorienting its viewpoint to bring religion to the centre of analysis, thereby casting secularism to the periphery. Unlike conventional IR, this thesis does not focus on foreign policies, but instead emphasises the lived realities of people. To undertake such an approach, this thesis uses what it calls a Relations International (RI) methodology. This methodology recognises and embraces scholars of other disciplines, utilising their research to achieve a truly multidisciplinary, collaborative perspective. An RI methodology also encourages novel evidence-gathering, such as through the use of social media and asks us to focus on praxeology in order to demonstrate ideology in action. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that postcolonialism remains a valuable theoretical approach, that an RI methodology is a constructive tool through which to hear what is often unheard in IR, and that religious (inter)nationalisms – such as that introduced by this research – present an exciting new challenge for our discipline.