The Making of Odia Identity: A Sociological Analysis of School Textbooks in Odisha

Abstract

The celebration of the nation and the state is a defining feature of school textbooks across the country. The present article aims to understand the textual means and pedagogic methods used in evolving a pan-Odia identity in the school textbooks of Odisha. The study has used Odia language and social science textbooks prescribed by the state as sources of sociological analysis. It aims to analyse patterns of regional representation, cultural and religious articulation and linguistic standardisation in constructing the ideal Odia identity. The study found that historical events, such as the Kalinga war, the Khandagiri site and the Paik rebellion have been used as memory posters. Though Odisha represents the highest form of linguistic diversity, there is an attempt to idealise Sanskritised Odia as authentic Odia which tends to delegitimise the region’s multiple dialects and tongues. The article has also noted that only the cultural and linguistic practices of the coastal region have been used as a means of defining the cultural identity of Odisha. Thus, we argue that textbooks work as an ideological state apparatus, organised on principles of recognition and de-recognition of text and traditions of languages, regions, religions and cultural pathways of caste and the adivasi community of Odisha.