The “nagrization” of Konkani—a term referring to the imposition of the Nagri (Devanagari) script as the singular, standardized form of the Konkani language in Goa—has sparked fierce debates about identity, culture, and linguistic hegemony. This phenomenon, often tied to upper-caste assertions of cultural purity, can be fruitfully examined through the lens of Slavoj Žižek’s rearticulation of the psychoanalytic concept of the death drive. Drawing on Žižek’s insights, this article explores how the nagrization of Konkani reflects a self-sabotaging dynamic akin to the death drive, where the pursuit of a monolithic cultural identity paradoxically undermines the vitality of the very culture it seeks to preserve.
The Nagrization of Konkani: A Hegemonic Project
Konkani, a language spoken predominantly in Goa and parts of coastal India, is a pluralistic entity, historically written in multiple scripts, including Roman, Kannada, Malayalam, and Devanagari. However, the push for nagrization—elevating the Nagri script as the sole legitimate form of Konkani—has been critiqued as a hegemonic project rooted in upper-caste anxieties. As noted in a critical analysis, this process is driven by a “paranoia” about the “impending death” of a particular vision of Konkani, one that equates the Nagri script with cultural purity and nobility. This paranoia manifests in efforts to enforce Nagri as the medium of instruction in schools and to marginalize other scripts, effectively “castrating the plural generative power of Konkani”.
This drive toward standardization mirrors what Žižek, drawing on Lacan, describes as a compulsion to impose symbolic order—a unified, coherent system that suppresses difference in favor of an imagined totality. The nagrization of Konkani is not merely a linguistic project but a political one, tied to the consolidation of upper-caste dominance. By rejecting the multiplicity of Konkani’s scripts and dialects, its proponents seek to monumentalize a singular version of the language, treating it as a “despotic symbol” that secures their cultural hegemony (). Yet, this very act of homogenization sows the seeds of its own undoing, as it alienates large sections of the Konkani-speaking population who do not identify with the Nagri script.
Žižek’s Death Drive: Repetition and Self-Sabotage
To understand this dynamic, we turn to Žižek’s reinterpretation of the Lacanian death drive, which he describes not as a biological instinct or a craving for annihilation but as a compulsion toward “repetition automatism” and “symbolic mortification” . Unlike Freud’s conception of the death drive as a return to an inorganic state, Žižek sees it as an “undead” persistence—an excessive, self-relating negativity that disrupts the homeostasis of the symbolic order. The death drive is the paradoxical force that compels subjects to cling to self-destructive behaviors or ideologies, not to achieve happiness but to perpetuate a cycle of failure and repetition.
In the context of nagrization, the death drive manifests in the obsessive pursuit of a monolithic Konkani identity. The champions of Nagri script exhibit what Žižek might call a “narcissistic obsession” with a purified cultural form, refusing to embrace the “generative fertility” of Konkani’s pluralism (). This obsession is self-sabotaging because it alienates speakers of other scripts and dialects, leading to the decline of the very cultural unity it seeks to enforce. The closure of Sunaprant, a Nagri-script Konkani daily, may be a stark symbol of this failure—a “thanatopic image” of the death of nagrization itself.
Žižek’s notion of the death drive as “undead life” is particularly apt here. The nagrized Konkani is neither fully alive nor dead but persists in a state of symbolic mortification, propped up by institutional mandates (e.g., as a medium of instruction) while losing resonance with the broader community. This mirrors Žižek’s description of the death drive as a force that keeps systems “stuck” in a loop of repetition, unable to break free into genuine transformation.
The Paranoia of Loss and the Fascist Tendency
Žižek’s work also highlights how the death drive intersects with ideological projects that resist historicization. Derek Hook, as cited in the Cornell Daily Sun, notes that Žižek views the death drive as “a-historical,” yet its manifestations are deeply contextual . In the case of nagrization, the paranoia of loss—fear that Konkani will “die” without Nagri’s dominance—is rooted in a specific historical trauma: the marginalization of Konkani under colonial and post-colonial linguistic hierarchies. This fear fuels a fascist tendency, as described in the critique of nagrization, where cultural purists exhibit a “schizoid investment of libidinal energies” to defend a singular vision of Konkani against perceived threats.
This fascist tendency aligns with Žižek’s analysis of ideology as a mechanism that papers over contradictions within the social order. The nagrization project constructs an imagined enemy—other scripts, dialects, or cosmopolitan influences—to justify its homogenizing mission. Yet, as Žižek might argue, this externalization of the threat masks an internal contradiction: the more nagrization seeks to unify Konkani, the more it fragments the community, driving away those who cherish its plural forms. The death drive here is not a literal death but a symbolic one—the slow erosion of Konkani’s vitality through the very mechanisms meant to save it.
The Ethical Dimension: Breaking the Cycle
Žižek’s rearticulation of the death drive also includes an ethical dimension, where confronting the drive’s destructive repetition opens the possibility of radical change. In his work, Žižek suggests that the death drive can be a site of “self-relating negativity,” where the subject acknowledges the futility of its obsessive attachments and embraces a new mode of being . For Konkani, this would mean rejecting the nagrization project’s monolithic vision and embracing the language’s multiplicity as a source of strength.
Rather than monumentalizing Nagri as a “life insurance” for Konkani, as some proponents do , a Žižekian approach would advocate for a radical pluralism that accepts the “trauma” of Konkani’s diversity. This involves recognizing that Konkani’s survival lies not in standardization but in its ability to adapt, evolve, and resonate across scripts and communities. By letting go of the paranoid fantasy of a singular Konkani, its advocates could break the cycle of self-sabotage and allow the language to thrive in its full, heterogeneous glory.
Conclusion: The Undead Konkani and the Hope of Plurality
The nagrization of Konkani, when viewed through Žižek’s lens of the death drive, reveals a tragic irony: the quest for cultural purity undermines the very culture it seeks to preserve. Like Žižek’s “undead” subject, nagrized Konkani persists in a state of symbolic mortification, neither fully alive nor dead, trapped in a repetitive cycle of paranoia and exclusion. Yet, Žižek’s framework also offers hope. By confronting the death drive’s destructive logic, Konkani’s advocates can embrace the language’s pluralism, transforming it from a site of cultural hegemony into a vibrant, living tradition.
In this Žižekian reading, the death of nagrization is not the death of Konkani but the birth of a new possibility—a Konkani that thrives in its multiplicity, resisting the fascist tendencies of standardization and embracing the generative power of difference. As Žižek might say, the true ethical act is to let go of the fantasy of unity and confront the real of Konkani’s plural soul.
Sources:
Elfbar Ideology: Reimagining the Death Drive – The Cornell Daily
Of Symbolic Mortification and ‘Undead Life’: Slavoj Žižek on the Death Drive – Psychoanalysis and History
Whose Konkani is Dying? – Jnanamrit
