EVENTS

Abstract

The India-China war of 1962 and the India-Pakistan war of 1965 occupy a significant place in thehistory of India’s international relations. These wars,fought during the peak of the Cold War, had not only radically transformed Indian public discourse on China and Pakistan but also significantly influenced Indian views of the United States and the Soviet Union.Though these wars did not bring any radical changes in India’sinternational politics, Indian discourse on non-alignment, militarization, nuclearization etc. had begun to take a new shape and direction in the context of these wars. The war induced changes in Indian public discoursehad redefined modern Indian identity in relations to the belligerent communist China andthe Islamist Pakistan. Approaching national identity as something which evolve in relation to an ‘other’ or many ‘others’, thepresentation attempts to analysethe significance of India-China war of 1962 and India-Pakistan war of 1965 in constituting modern Indian identity.

About the Speaker

Muhammed Kunhi is a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi. He recently submitted his PhD thesis titled “Memories of War and Construction of the Other: An Analysis of Mainstream Indian English Newspaper Discourse on China and Pakistan” to the Centre for International Politics Organization and Disarmament, in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He completed his MPhil from the same centre in 2013. His research interests include US-China relations, environmental politics in China and non-traditional security.