In the seventeenth episode, I speak to Kate Imy, a historian at the University of North Texas, about her recent book Faithful Fighters: Identity and Power in the British Indian Army, published by Stanford University Press in 2019. The book explores how the military culture, created by the British, spawned new dialogues and dynamics between soldiers and civilian communities, including Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims. Colonial authorities had to respect and incorporate certain social and religious traditions into the Army to keep these groups loyal while ensuring these concessions did not fuel anti-colonial sentiments. The conversation begins by setting the context around the martial races, or the discourse through which the colonial state recruited soldiers before moving to understand how colonial authorities engaged with three major ethno-religious communities (Sikhs, Muslims, and Nepal Gurkhas). Imy then explains this dynamic through the Sikh Kirpan, a symbol of Sikh's martial prowess but could also be used to spur anti-colonial resistance. Next, we talk about the relationship between body and faith and the body's importance to the faith colonial officials had on Indian soldiers. The conversation moves to consider the effects of 'Indianization,' bringing more Indians into the Army through military academies, and the implications of recent efforts to further 'Indianize' the Indian Army effacing colonial traditions. The conversation ends by asking how we can deal with the fraught legacy left by the British Indian army in the subcontinent today.
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