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. |
From inside the book
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... recently , part of the MQM constituency has revived ideas of diaspora , seeking inspiration or the better life in the Arabian Peninsula or the West . But throughout the period of its maximum impact in the 1990s , a simple , although ...
... recently been branded as a " terrorist group . " During my long engagement with the Muhajir Qaumi Movement , I have come to the conclusion that it is an exponent of and a contributor to a larger transformation of politics in South Asia ...
... recently I have been working on this project as a researcher and lecturer at the Research Center for Religion and Society of the University of Amsterdam , where I have received much support from my colleagues Gerd Baumann , Peter van ...
... recently from the northern areas of Pakistan . The MQM was the third - largest party in the national assembly of Pakistan , and it was a coalition partner in various governments in the 1990s . Its followers have , however , also been ...
... recently , Philippe Bourgois ( 1995 ) , a picture of street culture emerges that is more violent , less organized , more racially and ethnically biased , and more excluded from mainstream society than early - modern working - class ...