ABSTRACT

In 2017, amidst rising Hindu nationalist politics, the ‘Historic City of Ahmadabad’ was designated India’s first UNESCO World Heritage city for its Islamic architectural heritage. How should we understand the emergence of this seeming counter-narrative at a time of rising ethno-nationalism? Ahmadabad’s diverging international and intranational heritage narratives are instructive in understanding what motivates national identity constructions inside and outside a nation-state’s borders. Using evidence from semi-structured interviews and documents, this paper illustrates how Ahmadabad’s World Heritage narrative is manipulated for different objectives at each scale. Internationally, Ahmadabad’s heritage cooperation with the French government, and framing as ‘multicultural’ is intended to internationalise the city and appeal to a global audience. Internally, its framing suggests inclusivity but operates as a subtle form of control by presenting a carefully curated degree of Islamism. Ultimately, this narrative of inclusion excludes the Muslim and migrant populations most closely associated with this heritage. By unpacking the socio-political and economic forces at play in constructing Indian national identity internationally and internally, this paper highlights the uses and abuses of built heritage.

摘要

2017 年，在印度教民族主义政治兴起的背景下，“艾哈迈达巴德历史名城”因其伊斯兰建筑遗产而被指定为印度第一个联合国教科文组织世界遗产城市。在民族民族主义抬头之际，我们应该如何理解这种看似相反的叙事的出现？艾哈迈达巴德不同的国际和国内遗产叙述对于理解是什么推动了民族国家边界内外的民族认同建构具有指导意义。本文使用来自半结构化访谈和文件的证据，说明了艾哈迈达巴德的世界遗产叙述是如何被操纵以实现各个规模的不同目标的。在国际上，艾哈迈达巴德与法国政府的遗产合作以及“多元文化”的框架旨在使这座城市国际化并吸引全球观众。在内部，它的框架暗示了包容性，但通过呈现精心策划的伊斯兰主义程度，作为一种微妙的控制形式运作。最终，这种包容的叙述排除了与这一遗产最密切相关的穆斯林和移民人口。通过剖析在国际和国内构建印度民族认同的社会政治和经济力量，本文强调了建筑遗产的使用和滥用。