The state may have regained prominence, but "States
of Imagination" serves as a compelling reminder of the value in revisiting
this terrain. The book presents ethnographies of states within various
postcolonial settings, a notable contribution given the scarcity of theoretical
attention to states outside European contexts. This collection is particularly
significant for state theories as it challenges the prevailing myths of state
coherence and sovereignty. It fosters skepticism towards oversimplified distinctions,
such as European versus Third World states, state versus society, modernity
versus tradition, and liberal versus authoritarian states. Instead, it unravels
postcolonial states as arenas for political and cultural struggles, with
noteworthy contributions from authors like Mitchell Dean, Thomas Hansen, David
Nugent, Finn Stepputat, and Fiona Wilson.
In the coauthored introduction, editors Thomas Blom
Hansen and Finn Stepputat position their approach between Gramsci's insights
into the inherently politically charged and violent nature of the state and
Foucault's focus on the disciplinary and dispersed strategies of power and
governance. The outcome, as they argue, is a "denaturalized" and
disaggregated understanding of states. Throughout the essays, the postcolonial
state emerges as defragmented, characterized by porous boundaries, vexed by
inconsistencies and contradictions, and continually symbolically recreated. It
is viewed as unstable yet invested with considerable, albeit not absolute,
power. The editors conceptualize the state in terms of both symbolic functions,
signifying its role as the locus of governance and authoritative power, and
practical functions, encompassing the assertion of territorial sovereignty,
management of knowledge about the population, and the development and control
of the national economy. Instead of portraying postcolonial states as
inherently "weak" or "failed," the editors advocate for
scholars to grapple with the global inclination to establish national states.
They urge a focus on contextual, detailed, and discrete state practices and
techniques, moving away from stagnant characterizations.
The thirteen essays comprising this collection delve into
the themes outlined in the introduction. Examining various ethnographic sites,
including the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SATRC) and
state formation in Ecuador, the essays are categorized into three sections:
state and governance, justice, and community. A recurring theme across these
essays is the exploration of the intricate connections between the state and
society, prominently featured in contributions by Akhil Gupta, Lars Buur,
Thomas Blom Hansen, Oskar Verkaaik, and Rachel Seider.
Despite critics characterizing the SATRC as an arm of the
South African state, Buur contends that the SATRC had to paradoxically assert
its independence from both state and society to symbolically transform both
entities successfully. The essays also shed light on how examining ideas of
community in relation to the state, as seen in the works of Nugent, Stepputat,
and Martijn Van Beek, enhances our understanding of the establishment of
normative boundaries within the otherwise porous realm of state and civil
society. Nugent's analysis of the Chachapoyas in northern Peru illustrates how
perceptions of modernity's corrosiveness and the compromised national state
prompted the Chachapoyanos to represent themselves as a separate, racially
distinct, premodern folk community—a representation contingent on perceptions
of the state and, paradoxically, a product of modernity.
These essays tend to explore nuanced power dynamics and
resistance, emphasizing the uneven nature of power and the ongoing struggles
within societies. Gupta's examination, mapping points of surveillance and
resistance in the Integrated Child Development Services program, reveals a
reciprocal, albeit uneven, interplay between state agents, "voluntary
workers," teachers, and service recipients. In Rachel Seider's analysis,
efforts to foster more inclusive citizenship in Guatemala, marked by class and
racial differences, are situated within the contestations between Mayan
communities and the state.
By breaking down and contextualizing understandings of
postcolonial states, many essays in this collection focus on the routine,
everyday practices of the state. Verkaaik, for instance, extends this approach
to the "view from below" by gathering perspectives from Muhajirs in
Hyderabad and Karachi, challenging the notion that social unrest in Pakistan
solely stems from collapsed state authority. Instead, he argues that
attributing social unrest solely to the state oversimplifies complex societal
changes and misses broader transformations occurring within society.
Equally significant are the structural and spectacular
dimensions of postcolonial states. Sarah Radcliffe, for instance, scrutinizes
how the state actively constructs notions of territory and sovereignty in
Ecuador. Steffen Jensen delves into the strategies employed by the ANC to
normalize the South African state, while Alette Norval examines representations
of national identity and memory at the core of the South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (SATRC). Spectacles like the SATRC (explored by Buur
and Norval), the Srikrishna inquiry commission investigating the 1993 Mumbai
riots (discussed by Hansen), and Fiestas Patrias, Peru's Independence Day
(analyzed by Wilson), serve as pivotal moments for comprehending ongoing state
representations and their underlying strategies and techniques.
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