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ETHNICITY AND DEMOCRACY IN THE EASTERN HIMALAYAN BORDERLAND: Constructing Democracy. Asian Borderlands, no. 3. By Mona Chettri. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; Chicago: The University of Chicago Press [distributor], 2017. 182 pp. (Tables, map, B&W photos.) US$99.00, cloth. ISBN 978-9089-64-886-0.
In what ways does ethnicity matter to democratic politics? How are ethnic identities transformed into political resources? And how does democracy, in turn, frame the political mobilization of ethnic identities? Chettri's new book explores these questions from the perspective of the eastern Himalayan borderland. The book ably guides the reader through the complex, interconnected ethnic politics of Darjeeling, Sikkim, and eastern Nepal.
Thematically, Constructing Democracy dovetails with two current scholarly concerns: the vernacularization of democracy and borderland politics and identity. The introduction indexes the major debates around ethnicity and democracy, taking up issues such as the malleability of ethnic identities, primordialism vs. instrumentalism, and the relationship between self-ascribed and state-certified identities. Chettri proposes that we see a "dialectic relationship between ethnicity and politics ... sustained by an overarching structure that promises material as well as cultural benefits, and at the same time promotes the use of ethnic identity as a resource for political patronage" (29). In line with the basic thesis of the vernacularization of democracy, Chettri further argues that democracy "provides a legitimate outlet through which to articulate ethnic grievances," a process which "makes democracy more inclusive and relevant in the lives of the people of the eastern Himalaya" (17).
Chapter 1 gives a historical background to the formation...