Keeping the peace : spatial differences in Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 / Raheel Dhattiwala.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dhattiwala, Raheel, author.

Contributor:

Ellis D. Williams, College 1865, Endowment Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnic conflict.

Violence.

India--Gujarat.

Violence--India--Gujarat.

Ethnic conflict--India--Gujarat.

Hinduism--Relations--Islam.

Hinduism.

Relations.

Islam.

Gujarat (India)--Ethnic relations--History--21st century.

Gujarat (India).

Political violence.

Politics and government.

Religion.

Religion and politics.

Physical Description:

xvii, 193 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

"Even in the worst episodes of organized mass violence, some towns, villages, and neighbourhoods remain peaceful. What explains these spatial differences in violence? In Keeping the Peace, sociologist Raheel Dhattiwala argues that peace during collective violence can prevail even amid intergroup hostility and impassioned political motivations. Marshalling first-hand evidence from Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002, this book provides the link between the macro level of political ideologies leading to mass violence and the necessary micro conditions for violence to actually happen. Dhattiwala begins by systematically demonstrating the political logic of violence in Gujarat: the worst attacks on Muslims were orchestrated where the BJP faced the toughest electoral competition. Yet peace had prevailed in several places through a complex interplay of spatial layouts and the cognitive decisions of people caught in the middle of violence. Rarely did attackers and targets of the violence abandon reason even in the face of heightened emotions. Risk-averse attackers adopted spatial strategies to assess the vulnerability of the targets, and targets of violence used unorthodox means of sustaining peace, such as enforcement mechanisms, in order to fortify cooperation from co-ethnics. Dhattiwala further argues that despite intergroup hostility people can collectively work towards fulfilling common goals of the neighbourhood by forging positive alliances, even when superficial. Armed with fine-grained statistical analyses and interviews with victims and perpetrators over five years in Ahmedabad, the empirical data from the Gujarat violence makes a strong case for peacekeeping during collective violence, regardless of regional context"-- Provided by publisher.

In times of extreme violence, what explains peace in some places? This book investigates geographic variation in Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002, an event witnessed closely by the author. It compares peaceful and violent towns, villages, and neighbourhoods to study how political violence spreads. A combination of statistical and ethnographic methods unpack the mechanisms of crowd behaviour, intergroup relations, and political incentives. Macro-level risk factors that led to the violence are analysed to provide a close understanding of the behaviour of people who participated in the violence, were targeted by it and, often, compelled to carry on living alongside their perpetrators. Findings systematically demonstrate the implicit political logic of the violence. Most of all, by moving up close to the people caught in the middle of violence; findings highlight the interplay between politics, the spatial environment, and the cognitive decision-making processes of individuals.

Contents:

Explaining Variation in Violence: An Introduction

Peace and Violence: Concepts and Theory

The Political Logic of Violence: Anti-Muslim Pogrom in Gujarat

Ahmedabad

Spatial Configuration: Variation in Violence across Neighbourhoods

Monitoring and Control in Two Peaceful Neighbourhoods

So Near, and Yet So Far: Neighbour Relations Between Victims and

Perpetrators of Violence

The BJP's Muslim Supporters in Ahmedabad

Ethnic Violence: Connecting the Macro with the Micro.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Ellis D. Williams, College 1865, Endowment Fund.

ISBN:

9781108497596

1108497594

OCLC:

1104073807