A Tale of Two Communities Pakistani Textbook Representations of 1857

Abstract

This paper is a snapshot of how the events of 1857 are reconstructed to craft Pakistan’s national imagination by state, non-state, private and British textbook historians. The textbooks written for children of government schools tend to reflect the greatest degree of communal and religious interpretations of 1857. The books produced by non-government and private institutions employ a somewhat lesser communal tone and offer a greater level of sophistication in terms of the cultural, economic, social, political and material dynamics of the rebellion. The British version of 1857 barely conceals the imperial impulse in its language and vocabulary.