Paul R. Brass

Ethnic Groups and the State

This book, published in 1985, examines the effects of the state, its official ideologies, its structural forms and its specific policies upon the formation of ethnic identity. The formation of ethnic identity is viewed as a process that involves three sets of struggles. One takes place within the ethnic group itself for control over its material and symbolic resources. The second takes place between ethnic groups, as a competition for rights, privileges and available resources. The second takes place between ethnic groups, as a competition for rights, privileges and available resources. The third takes place between the state and the groups that dominate it, on the one hand, and the population that inhabits its territory, on the other hand.

This issue is viewed both from an historical and contemporary political standpoint, and the impact of ethnic issues in a wide range of cultures is assessed in a comparative introduction by Paul R. Brass and studies of Africa (Crawford Young), the Ottoman State (Kemal Karpat), Slovak Nationalism (David W. Paul), Yugoslavia (Paul V. Warwick and Lenard J. Cohen), Spain (Davydd J. Greenwood), Belgium (Maureen Covell), South Africa (Heribert Adam), and Indian Tribal Autonomy and Separatism in the United States (Alvin J. Ziontz).

Selected Works

Books
The Politics of Northern India: 1937 to 1987, Volume I: An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1937 to 1961
An Indian Political Life focuss on the role of Charan Singh in the politics of the period, while providing a broader perspective on the major issues, controveries, and developments of the time.
Forms of Collective Violence: Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Modern India
This collection of essays focus on the various forms of collective violence that have occurred in India during the past six decades, which include riots, pogroms, and genocide.
The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India
Explains the persistence of Hindu-Muslim rioting in India.
Riots and Pogroms
Case studies of collective violence in the twentieth century.
The Politics of India Since Independence
Second edition, covering Indian politics and political economy from 1947 to 1992.
Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison
Comparative and theoretical studies of ethnic groups and nationalities in India and the Soviet Union.
Ethnic Groups and the State
Comparative studies in ethnic conflict and the interaction of ethnic identity and the state.
Language, Religion, and Politics in North India
History and analysis of the politics of language and religious movements in northern India,
Factional Politics in an Indian State
The first major study of local politics in post-Independence India.
Articles and Essays
False Dichotomies: Truth, Reason, and Morality in Nietzsche, Foucault, and the Contemporary Social Sciences
Critique of the Social Sciences in Light of the Works of Nietzsche and Foucault
The Political Uses of Crisis: The Bihar Famine of 1966-1967
Focuses on three aspects of the Bihar Famine crisis: the process of defining the situation in Bihar; the rehtoric used in labeling it and in distinguishing it from a "normal" situation; and the responses of the authorities to the crisis.
Collective Violence, Human Rights, and the Politics of Curfew
A consideration of the consequences of curfew restrictions for the populations affected by them and the human rights issues raised by extended and punitive curfew restrictions, with special attention to India.
Victims, Heroes, or Martyrs? Partition and the Problem of Memorialization in Contemporary Sikh History
Discusses the problems of memorialization faced by religious/ethnic communities whose members have been subjected to large-scale, traumatic violence.
Review Symposium: The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India by Paul R. Brass
Reviews of my book by Thomas Blom Hansen, A. R. Momin, and Roger Petersen, with my response.
Indian Secularism in Practice
Text of article published in the INDIAN JOURNAL OF SECULARISM, Vol. 9 No. 1 (Jan-Mar 2006)
Biographies of Indian political personalities: Indira Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan, Vallabhbhai Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ram Manohar Lohia, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, and Charan Singh
Biographies of Indira Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan, Vallabhbhai Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Ram Manohar Lohia in the New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Development of an Institutionalised Riot System in Meerut City, 1961 to 1982
Text of article published in the ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY (October 30, 2004).
Elite interests, popular passions, and social power in the language politics of India
Text of article published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 27 (No. 3) May 2004, pp. 353-375.
"The Body as Symbol in the Production of Hindu-Muslim violence"
Chapter 1 in Ravinder Kaur (ed.), Religion, Violence and Political Mobilisation in South Asia (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2005), pp. 46-68.
The 1984 Parliamentary Elections in Uttar Pradesh
Analysis of the 1984 parliamentary election results in Uttar Pradesh
Coalition Politics in North India
Text of article published in The American Political Science Review, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Dec., 1968), 1174-1191.
National Power and Local Politics in India: A Twenty-Year Perspective
Text of article published in Modern Asian Studies, XVIII, No. 1 (February, 1984), 89-118.
Muslims in Hindu Nationalist India
Transcript of a discussion with Asghar Ali Engineer at the Center for Ethics and Public Policy, Washington, D. C., held on January 12, 2004
The Gujarat Pogrom of 2002
Analysis of the killings and destruction in the Indian state of Gujarat after February 27, 2002.
Foucault Steals Political Science
Analysis of Foucault's ideas concerning power, knowledge, governing, and governance.
Conference papers
Corruption and Anti-Corruption on the Eve of Indian Independence
Prepared for the Panel on “Corruption as Practice and Discourse in India” at the Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin, Madison, October 19-22, 2006
Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Contemporary India: From Partition to the Present
Prepared for the Hiroshima Peace Institute Conference on Comparative Research into Genocide and Mass Violence, Hiroshima, Japan, March 22-26, 2004)
On the Study of Riots,Pogroms, and Genocide
Methodology and ideology in the analysis of forms of collective violence