Structural violence and politics

Abstract

In Red Tape, I do not use the term “arbitrary” in opposition to “systematic”, as is alleged by Harriss and Jeffrey. Arbitrariness accompanies systematic forms of discrimination, and is the result of both, the indifference to outcomes and to the chaotic style of functioning of Indian bureaucracies. Interpreting structural violence, or explaining injustice, requires understanding what the state means to different people. The chief argument that poverty is a form of violence, and represents the killing of the poor, underlines the injustice that results from treating poverty as a biopolitical fact. I employ a notion of politics that is not restricted to parties and mobilization, but which saturates all relations of inequality. Despite voicing dissatisfaction with the analysis presented in Red Tape, Harriss and Jeffrey fail to forward an adequate and coherent alternative.

Keywords:

• structural violence
• state
• arbitrariness
• violence
• inequality
• poverty
• India

Acknowledgment

I wish to thank John Harriss and Craig Jeffrey for comments on an earlier draft. They are not responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation in this response.

Notes

1. Jeffrey et al. (2008) argue persuasively that Mayawati's election as Chief Minister of the state of UP cannot be taken as evidence of a ‘Dalit revolution’. Through ethnographic interviews, they document that a fundamental change has indeed taken place in Dalit consciousness, without a corresponding change in the social and economic position of Dalits. The referent of the term ‘political mobilization’ is ambiguous, because the evidence presented in their paper points to the fact that consciousness of caste discrimination has increased, that Dalit actors are more willing to confront caste prejudices and that they are motivated to vote for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). However, the paper also shows that all of this does not result in the greater delivery of goods and services to Dalits, or the raising of their class positions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Akhil Gupta

Akhil Gupta is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Director of the Center for India and South Asia (CISA).