Institutional Precarity and the Erosion of Secular Nationalism: A Theoretical Study of Anjum Hasan’s History’s Angel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64137/31079385/IJMHSS-V1I2P105Keywords:
Minority representation, Postcolonial theory, Secular nationalism, Institutional precarity, Indian literature, Benjamin’s philosophy of historyAbstract
Anjum Hasan’s History’s Angel (2022) presents a nuanced literary engagement with the precarious position of religious m inorities in contemporary India, specifically the quotidian mechanisms through which institutional structures systematize discrimination against Muslims. This paper argues that the novel demonstrates how what might be termed “structural precarity” the systematic vulnerability of minorities within ostensibly secular institutions, operates as a form of institutional violence that escapes spectacular representation. Drawing on postcolonial theory, particularly Spivak’s theorization of subalternity and Bhabha’s concepts of hybridity and institutional ambivalence, Walter Benjamin’s philosophy of history, and contemporary scholarship on minority representation in Indian literature, this analysis reveals how Hasan’s novel operates as a counter-narrative that challenges the erosion of secular nationalism and institutional capture by Hindu nationalist ideologies. The figure of Alif Mohammad, the protagonist-teacher, embodies Benjamin’s “Angel of History”, caught between historical consciousness and political powerlessness, unable to intervene in the systematic dismantling of pluralistic frameworks within educational institutions
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