Migrants and Militants: Fun and Urban Violence in PakistanBeing part of a violent community in revolt can be addictive--it can be fun. This book offers a fascinating inside look at present-day political violence in Pakistan through a historical ethnography of the Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), one of the most remarkable and successful religious nationalist movements in postcolonial South Asia. The MQM has mobilized much of the "migrant" (Muhajir) population in Karachi and other urban centers in southern Pakistan and has fomented large-scale ethnic-religious violence. Oskar Verkaaik argues that urban youth see it as an irresistible opportunity for "fun." Drawing on both anthropological fieldwork, including participatory observation among political militants, and historical analyses of state formation, nation-building, and the ethnicization of Islam since 1947, he provides an absorbing and important contribution to theoretical debates about political--religious and nationalist--violence. |
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... instance , that Sindhis portray themselves as being inclined to mysticism and esoteric Sufism , as opposed to , say , Muhajirs , who are believed to be more orthodox . Similarly , the Pakhtun , who made up a large proportion of the pro ...
... instance in language policies or the reservation and allocation of government jobs ) , this is rarely their main reason for joining the movement . Similarly , it is too simple to see the MQM merely or primarily as an expression of an ...
... instance , takes the ethnic undercurrent of the Pakistani political culture to its extreme . As an urban movement , however , the MQM is also part of a new phase of identity politics . This includes the emergence of popular movements ...
... instance , is a mixture of East Asian martial art traditions , Middle Eastern styles of Muslim militancy , Hollywood cinema , and Bollywood pop music . The MQM has managed to successfully weave this latently subversive urban youth ...
... instances of ethnic and religious violence in times when both the state and the modern ideology of identity seem to be in crisis . Zygmunt Bauman , for instance , links ethnic or religious violence to the anxiety caused by a postmodern ...