Author: Ward Berenschot
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 236
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788129123756
Description
On 27 February 2002, fifty-eight people died when a coach of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire just outside a small-town railway station in Gujarat. The incident sparked the Gujarat riots, one of the worst outbursts of Hindu-Muslim violence in recent history.
Based on an extensive ethnographic study of Gujarat’s local politics, Riot Politics offers a novel approach to understanding the processes that foster outbursts of communal violence in India. Berenschot argues that the difficulties faced by poorer citizens when dealing with state institutions underlie the capacity and interests of political actors to instigate and organize communal violence.
As the reader is led into the often shadowy world of local politics in Gujarat, the author reveals how the capacity and willingness of various types of rioters — ranging from politicians, local criminals, fundamentalist groups, to neighborhood leaders and police officials—to organize and perpetrate violence is closely related to the different political positions these actors hold.
EDITORIAL REVIEWS:
‘Outbursts of communal violence in India are often portrayed as aberrations, as moments of collective madness interrupting a lively liberal democracy. Nobody can maintain that position after having read Ward Berenschot's meticulously researched and robustly argued study of local politics and violence in Gujarat. Berenschot demonstrates that organizing, preparing and imagining communal violence-real or potential-is endemic to the way democracy, identity and political power functions at the level of neighborhoods and streets in India's economic powerhouse. A must read for anyone interested in the political sociology of violence.
= Thomas Blom Hansen, Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University.
‘The 2002 genocidal violence in Gujarat has remained partly unexplained. Focusing on the city of Ahmadabad, Ward Berenschot’s book throws new light on these events, drawing on unique fieldwork emphasizing the role of grassroots leaders. This is a remarkable addition to the literature on communalism in India.
= Christophe Jaffrelot, Senior Research Fellow, CNRS, CERI
‘Ward Berenschot explains how the neighborhood-based agents of the commanding party heights tried to segregate people on the basis of their religious identity. His excellent study shows that communalism is a political act rather than a state of mind.’
= Jan Breman, Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research
‘An exciting new study of the relationship between political mediation and violence in Gujarat, this work is ethnographically rich, well-written, and theoretically ambitious.’
= Professor Samira Sheikh, Vanderbilt University
This volume provides a rich ethnographic account of the modus operandi of grass roots political actors in communal (ethnic) violence. Berenschot provides an insight into everyday politics and the state in Gujarat, India. Highly useful for students of Indian politics and society.’
= Ghanshyam Shah, National Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study.
COMMENTS:
“A Remarkable Addition to the Literature on Communalism in India.”
= Christophe Jaffrelot
“The 2002 Genocidal Violence in Gujarat has Remained Partly Unexplained. Focusing on The city of Ahmadabad, ward berenschot’s book throws new light on these events, drawing on unique fieldwork emphasizing the role of grass-roots leaders, this is a remarkable addition to the literature on communalism in India.”
= Christophe Jaffrelot
“This volume provides a rich ethnographic account of the modus operandi of grassroots political actors in communal (ethnic) violence. Berenschot provides an insight into everyday politics and the state in Gujarat, India. Highly useful for students of Indian politics and society.”
= Ghanshyam Shah, National Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
Glossary and Abbreviations
Part One – Introduction
1. Introduction : Riot Networks in Ahmadabad
2. Explaining India’s Hindu-Muslim Violence
Part Two – Shifting Patterns of State-Society Interaction
3. The Coming of the chamchas and the politicization of Gujarat’s Neighborhoods
4. Changing Patronage Channels and the Rise of Hindu-Nationalism in Gujarat
Part Three – The Everyday Mediation of The State
5. The Every Mediation of a Municipal Councillor
6. Neighborhood Workers and the Politics of Exchanging Favours
7. Moneypower and Musclepower : on the Nexus between Politicians, state officials and Goondas
Part Four – Political Mediation and Communal Violence
8. Political Mediation and the Political of Identity
9. The Infrastructure for Violence : Rioting as Maintain Relations
Conclusion : Political Mediation, Communal Violence and the State
Notes
Bibliography
Index