Project Implementation Period: September 1, 2022 – November 1, 2024
The project aims to study the influence of ethnic and ethno-confessional factors on the processes of national solidarity (cohesion) in modern societies in South Asia (Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan).
The main tasks of the project focuses on the study of the following aspects: 1) historical discourse of ethnic and clan-tribal mosaic; 2) the specifics of formal and informal institutions in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, influencing the development of the Pashtuns, the Punjabis, and the Kashmiris; 3) interaction between state institutions and ethnic/ethno-confessional, clan and tribal groups; 4) intellectual discourse of representatives of ethnic/ethno-confessional, clan and tribal groups. Chronologically, the project covers the modern period, taking into account the historical context of the late 19th – 1st half of the 20th centuries.
The main research question is the following: how do clan-tribal, ethnic, ethno-confessional identities, on the one hand, and national identity, on the other, relate to each other in these countries? In other words, what is the correlation between particular and shared identities, and what are the reasons for it? Solving the main research question will help to better understand the patterns associated with the influence of these types of identities on the processes of national solidarity, nation-building, and cohesion in societies in the region.
Research Methods. To address these issues, the following qualitative research methods were employed: focus groups interview, in-depth semi-structured interviews, expert survey, thematic analysis, content analysis, and discourse analysis. Quantitative research methods included the analysis of statistical data from population censuses, demographic surveys, government reports, among others. To prepare for the interviews, the project was registered with the Local Ethics Committee (LEC) of al-Farabi KazNU under Protocol No IRB–A507 (IRB00010790 al-Farabi Kazakh National University IRB#1).