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Paper Short Abstract:

Situated among archaeological activists in India who are formulating a composite history that counters prevalent majoritarian narratives through practices of archiving material remains, this paper explores the potential of archivization to challenge a politics premised on cultural authetincity.

Paper Abstract:

Although disputes over material forms have been central to the formulation of history and national and religious identity (El-Haj 2001; Sutton 1998), of late archaeology has acquired a prominent place in the Indian popular imagination as the key to uncover the genuine origin of historic sites. Initially motivated by the prevailing Hindu majoritarian regime’s interest in ascertaining the provenance of and recapturing buildings allegedly usurped by Muslims, numerous organizations have emerged with the aim of providing archaeological education to the general public. This paper draws on participant observation with archaeological activists working to develop an alternative archive that fosters an appreciation of sanjhi virasat (shared inheritance), which is advanced as a national treasure to which all major religious communities have contributed. Informed by a nascent but richly suggestive anthropology of historical experience (Palmié and Stewart 2016), I explore how the activists attempt to formulate a composite history that counters prevalent majoritarian narratives through practices of archiving, publicizing, and memorializing material remains. Reanimating debates on cultural mixture (Bhabha 1994; Diagne 2013), in the context of a state-backed project to purify national history of ostensibly foreign Muslim presence, I argue that the mixing of difference cultivated by this composite history seeks to challenge the possibility as well as desirability of authentic identity. The paper concludes with an examination of the potentials and limits of archivization as a resource for commoning culture, i.e. for rendering religious difference shared and unremarkable.