The Violence of Recognition

"The Violence of Recognition offers an unprecedented firsthand account of the role of Hindu nationalists in mobilizing the largest incident of anti-Christian violence in India's history. Pinky Hota explores the roots of ethnonationalist conflict between the Kandha, who are Adivasi (tribal people considered indigenous in India), and the Paana, a community of Christian Dalits. Hota documents how Hindutva mobilization led to outbreaks of violence, culminating in attacks against thousands of Paana in the district of Kandhamal in 2008. Showing how the legally protected status of Adivasis and the putatively liberatory, anti-capitalist discourse of indigeneity are leveraged to justify political, economic, and cultural exclusion of Dalits-particularly those such as the Paana, who as Christians are not recognized as a Scheduled Caste and consequently struggle for recognition by the state-, The Violence of Recognition reveals the violent implications of minority recognition in creating and maintaining hierarchies of racial capitalism"--