 | Lives of Muslims in India: Politics, Exclusion and Violence Subjects: Area Studies; Humanities; Social Sciences; Asian Studies; Religion; Cultural Studies; Sociology & Social Policy; Asian Studies (General); South Asian Studies; Religion and Philosophy; Islam - Religion; Gender Studies; Political Sociology; Sociology of Religion; The fast-consolidating identities along religious and ethnic lines in recent years have considerably 'minoritised' Muslims in India. The wide-ranging essays in this volume focus on the intensified exclusionary practices against Indian Muslims, highlighting how, amidst a politics of violence, confusing policy frameworks on caste and class lines, and institutionalised riot systems, the community has also suffered from the lack of leadership from within. At the same time, Indian Muslims have emerged as a 'mass' around which the politics of 'vote bank', 'appeasement', 'foreigners', 'Pakistanis within the country', and so on are innovated and played upon, making them further apprehensive about asserting their legitimate right to development. The important issues of the double marginalisation of Muslim women and attempts to reform the Muslim Personal Law by some civil society groups is also discussed. Contributed by academics, activists and journalists, the articles discuss issues of integration, exclusion and violence, and attempt to understand categories such as 'identity', 'minority', 'multiculturalism' and 'nationalism' with regard to and in the context of Indian Muslims. This second edition, with a new introduction, will be of great interest to scholars and researchers in sociology, politics, history, cultural studies, minority studies, Islamic studies, policy studies and development studies, as well as policymakers, civil society activists and those in media and journalism. Abdul Shaban is Professor at the School of Development Studies and Deputy Director (Tuljapur Campus), Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. He has published widely on Muslims in India, including in Mumbai: Political Economy of Crime and Space (2010); Muslims in Urban India: Development and Exclusion (2013); and Mega-urbanization in the Global South: Fast Cities and New Urban Utopias of the Postcolonial State (2012, co-editor). He has been member of the Study Group appointed by the Government of Maharashtra to assess the 'Social, Economic and Educational Status of Muslims in Maharashtra' (2012-13); the 'Post-Sachar Evaluation Committee' (2013-14) appointed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India; and the Commission of Inquiry on Social, Economic and Educational Status of Muslims in Telangana (2015-present). He has also authored many reports for the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, the Government of Maharashtra, the Government of India, the World Bank, and national and international corporate groups. |
