Ordinary People, Extraordinary Violence

Taylor & Francis

Ordinary People, Extraordinary ViolenceNaxalites and Hindu Extremists in India\nAuthor(s): Chitralekha\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge India\nISBN-13: 9781138662896, 978-1138662896\nSynopsis\nThe book engages with an urgent and disturbing question: how are ordinary people readied to willingly kill others in the name of a cause? It compares narratives of actors in domains often assumed incomparable in academic discourse: Naxalites studied within the framework of peasant rebellion, social movement or recently even terrorism, and Hindu rioters viewed mostly under the broad rubric of ethnic violence. The book draws from the authors extensive and painstaking fieldwork, first with Naxalite armed cadre across seven districts in Jharkhand and Bihar, and later with participants in the 2002 riots in Gujarat. \n\nViewed from the standpoint of the perpetrator or foot soldier, the book bridges hitherto sacrosanct boundaries between left.