Everyday Peace?
Politics, Citizenship and Muslim Lives in India
RGS-IBG Book Series
1. Edition October 2015
248 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Providing important insights into political geography, the politics of peace, and South Asian studies, this book explores everyday peace in northern India as it is experienced by the Hindu-Muslim community.
* Challenges normative understandings of Hindu-Muslim relations as relentlessly violent and the notion of peace as a romantic endpoint occurring only after violence and political maneuverings
* Examines the ways in which geographical concepts such as space, place, and scale can inform and problematize understandings of peace
* Redefines the politics of peace, as well as concepts of citizenship, agency, secular politics, and democracy
* Based on over 14 months of qualitative and archival research in the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations xii
Glossary xiv
List of Figures xix
1 Introduction 1
2 The Scalar Politics of Peace in India 35
3 Making Peace Visible in the Aftermath of Terrorist Attacks 67
4 Political life: Lived Secularism and the Possibility of Citizenship 90
5 Civic Space: Playing with Peace and Security/Insecurity 109
6 Economic Peace and the Silk Sari Market 138
7 Becoming Visible: Citizenship, Everyday Peace and the Limits of Injustice 159
8 Conclusions: Questioning Everyday Peace 176
References 191
Index 213
-- Craig Jeffrey, Professor of Development Geography, University of Oxford, UK
'Philippa Williams' new book is in the best tradition of interdisciplinary and critical work on peace. Research and theory about peacemaking and peacebuilding has historically shifted from dealing with inter-state war to how peace is configured through everyday social relations. Work on the latter approach is becoming increasingly sophisticated and interdisciplinary. It often draws upon examples now becoming visible because of more sophisticated methodologies and theory, from across the world, and as opposed to the Eurocentric exemplars commonly used in political science. Williams' study pioneers new understandings of the spatial and social production of peace especially in subaltern frameworks such as some of India's Muslim communities.'
-- Oliver Richmond, Professor of International Relations, Peace & Conflict Studies, University of Manchester, U