PDF The Making of Arab Americans: From Syrian Nationalism to U.S. Citizenship by Hani J. Bawardi in History

Description

Chronic Hindu-Muslim rioting in India has created a situation in which communal violence is both so normal and so varied in its manifestations that it would seem to defy effective analysis. Paul R. Brass; one of the world's preeminent experts on South Asia; has tracked more than half a century's riots in the north Indian city of Aligarh. This book is the culmination of a lifetime's thinking about the dynamics of institutionalized intergroup violence in northern India; covering the last three decades of British rule as well as the entire post-Independence history of Aligarh.Brass exposes the mechanisms by which endemic communal violence is deliberately provoked and sustained. He convincingly implicates the police; criminal elements; members of Aligarh's business community; and many of its leading political actors in the continuous effort to "produce" communal violence. Much like a theatrical production; specific roles are played; with phases for rehearsal; staging; and interpretation. In this way; riots become key historical markers in the struggle for political; economic; and social dominance of one community over another.In the course of demonstrating how riots have been produced in Aligarh; Brass offers a compelling argument for abandoning or refining a number of widely held views about the supposed causes of communal violence; not just in India but throughout the rest of the world. An important addition to the literature on Indian and South Asian politics; this book is also an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the interplay of nationalism; ethnicity; religion; and collective violence; wherever it occurs.