Wages of Violence : Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay / Thomas Blom Hansen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hansen, Thomas Blom, 1958- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mumbai (India)--Politics and government--20th century.

Mumbai (India).

Mumbai (India)--Social conditions--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

When Bombay changed its name to Mumbai in 1995, it was the culmination of a long process that transformed India's primary symbol of modernity and cultural diversity into a site of intense ethnic conflict and violent nationalism. Wages of Violence is a startling account of how the city's atmosphere, dominant public languages, and power structures have changed since the 1960s. The book centers on how Shiv Sena, a militant Hindu movement, has advanced a new, ''plebeian'' political culture and has undermined democratic rule in India's premier city. Drawing on a large body of archival material and conversations with people from all walks of life, Thomas Blom Hansen paints a vivid picture of this dynamic and violent movement. Challenging conventional views of recent trends in Indian politics, Hansen shows that the xenophobic public culture of today's Mumbai has deep roots in the region's history and its contested identities. We are also given revealing insights into the city's Muslim communities and the authorities' understanding and control of the ethno-religious subcultures in the city. Hansen argues cogently that Shiv Sena's success represents the violent possibilities of the ''vernacularization'' of democracy in India. Unfolding at a juncture where the globalization of India's economy is having a deepening impact on the lives of ordinary people, this is a story that resonates with the directions urban growth is taking both elsewhere in India and beyond.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acronyms

Introduction: The Proper Name

Chapter 1. Deccan Pastoral: The Making of an Ethnohistorical Imagination in Western India

Chapter 2. Bombay and the Politics of Urban Desire

Chapter 3. "Say with Pride That We Are Hindus": Shiv Sena and Communal Populism

Chapter 4. Thane City: The Making of Political Dadaism

Chapter 5. Riots, Policing, and Truth Telling in Bombay

Chapter 6. In the Muslim Mohalla

Chapter 7. Living the Dream: Governance, Graft, and Goons

Conclusion. Politics as Permanent Performance

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-265) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9780691188621

0691188629

OCLC:

1080552110