Disturbance, public disorder and everyday violence: a review of Moyukh Chatterjee's composing violence: Composing violence: the limits of exposure and the making of minorities, by Moyukh Chatterjee, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2023, 184 pp., $94.95 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-4780-1702-8

The article focuses on Moyukh Chatterjee's monograph *Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities*, which examines how political violence and property demolitions targeting Muslim minorities in India are framed and normalized through state institutions, legal processes, a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Social Identities Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 193 - 198
Autor principal: Shrivastava, Devansh
Formato: Book Review
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Mar2026
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Disturbance, public disorder and everyday violence: a review of Moyukh Chatterjee's composing violence: Composing violence: the limits of exposure and the making of minorities, by Moyukh Chatterjee, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2023, 184 pp., $94.95 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-4780-1702-8
      aug:
        au: Shrivastava, Devansh
        affil: Institute of Public Policy, National Law School of India University Bengaluru, India
      su:
        India
        Political violence
        Legal status of minorities
        Discourse
        Public institutions
        Hindus
        Ethnographic analysis
        Communalism
        Legal doctrines
      sug:
        subj:
          Political violence
          Legal status of minorities
          Discourse
          Public institutions
          Hindus
          Ethnographic analysis
          Communalism
          India
          Legal doctrines
      ab: The article focuses on Moyukh Chatterjee's monograph *Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities*, which examines how political violence and property demolitions targeting Muslim minorities in India are framed and normalized through state institutions, legal processes, and public discourse. Chatterjee critiques the colonial-era binaries of Hindu-Muslim antagonism reproduced by police reports, courts, and media, arguing that these reinforce majoritarian power while rendering minority violence and resistance invisible or illegitimate. Through ethnographic and archival analysis, the book highlights how acts of anti-Muslim violence, including demolitions justified as law enforcement, contribute to the construction of minorities as a legal and political category within the modern Indian state. The work calls for a nuanced understanding of political violence beyond conventional law-and-order narratives, emphasizing the role of institutional practices in sustaining systemic impunity and shaping communal identities.
      pubtype: Review
      doctype: Book Review
      src: R
    language: English
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