PAUL R. BRASS is Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has published numerous books and articles on comparative and South Asian politics, ethnic politics, and collective violence.
His work has been based on extensive field research in India during numerous visits since 1961. His most recent books are: Forms of Collective Violence: Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Modern India (2006); The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India (2003); Theft of an Idol: Text and Context in the Representation of Collective Violence (1997); Riots and Pogroms (1996); and The Politics of India Since Independence, 2nd ed. (1994).
PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS
THE POLITICS OF NORTHERN INDIA: 1937 TO 1987
2011: Volume I : An Indian political life: : Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1937 to 1961
2012: Volume II: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1957 to 1967.
2014: Volume III: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1967 to 1987.
2006: Forms of Collective Violence: Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Modern India. Gurgaon: Three Essays Collective. Pp. 184
2003: The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Pp. 476
2002: Competing Nationalisms in South Asia: Essays for Asghar Ali Engineer. Ed. with Achin Vanaik. Hyderabad: Orient Longman.
1997: Theft of an Idol:Text and Context in the Representation of Collective Violence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Pp. 298
1996: Riots and Pogroms. London and New York: Macmillan and NYU Press. Pp. 252
1994: The Politics of India Since Independence, 2nd edition, vol. iv:i of the New Cambridge History of
India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 403
1991: Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and
Comparison. New Delhi and Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Pp. 358.
1990: The Politics of India Since Independence,
vol. iv:i of the New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 357
1987: The Indian National Congress and Indian Society, 1885-1985: Ideology, Social Structure, and Political Dominance (with Francis Robinson). New Delhi: Chanakya Press. Pp. 480.
1985: Ethnic Groups and the State. London: Croom Helm. Pp. 341.
1985: Caste, Faction, and Party in Indian Politics, Vol. II: Election Studies. New Delhi: Chanakya Press. Pp. 325.
1984: Caste, Faction, and Party in Indian Politics, Vol. I: Faction and Party. New Delhi: Chanakya Press. Pp. 339.
1982: Science, Politics, and the Agricultural Revolution in Asia (with Robert S. Anderson, Edwin Levy, and Barrie M. Morrison). Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. 512 pp.
1974: Language, Religion, and Politics in North India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974. 467 pp.
1973: Radical Politics in South Asia (with Marcus Franda). Cambridge: The MIT Press. 449 pp.
1965: Factional Politics in an Indian State: The Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh. Berkeley, University of California. 262 pp.
SELECTED ARTICLES
2006: “The Development of an Institutionalised Riot System in Meerut City, 1961 to 1982,” in Ian Talbot (ed), The Deadly Embrace (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 81-107.
2006: “Collective Violence, Human Rights, and the Politics of Curfew,” Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 5, No. 3, July-September 2006 pp. 323-40.
2006: “Victims, Heroes, or Martyrs? Partition and the Problem of Memorialization in Contemporary Sikh History,” Sikh Formations,Vol. 2, No. 1, June 2006, pp. 17-31.
2006: “Indian Secularism in Practice,” in the Indian Journal of Secularism, Vol. 9 (No. 1), Jan-Mar, 115-32.
2005: “The Body as Symbol in the Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence,” in Ravinder Kaur (ed.), Religion, Violence, and Political Mobilisation in South Asia, (New Delhi: Sage, 2005),pp. 46-68.
2005: “Rape at Daphnala,” in Steven I. Wilkinson (ed.), Religious Politics and Communal Violence (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 34-65. [Reprint of chapter from Theft of an Idol.]
2004: "Development of an Institutionalised Riot System in Meerut City, 1961 to 1982," ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY (October 30, 2004), pp. 4839-4848.
2004: "Elite interests, popular passions, and social power in the language politics of India," Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 27 (No. 3) May 2004, pp. 353-375.
2004: "Muslims in Hindu Nationalist India," Center Conversations (April 2004).
2003: "The Partition of India and Retributive Genocide in the Punjab, 1946-47: Means, Methods, and Purposes," Journal of Genocide Research (2003), 5(1), 71-101.
2003: "Review Article: Rulers of India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, 51: 2 (January 2003), 523-28.
2002: “India, Myron Weiner, and the Political Science of Development,” Economic and Political Weekly, XXXVII, No. 29 (July 20-26, 2002), 3026-40.
2000: “The Strong State and the Fear of Disorder,” in Francine R. Frankel, et al. (eds.), Transforming India: Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy (New Delhi: Oxford University Press). Pp. 60-88
1984: "National Power and Local Politics in India: A Twenty-Year Perspective," Modern Asian Studies, XVIII, No. 1 (February, 1984), 89-118.
1968: "Coalition Politics in North India," The American Political Science Review, LXII (December, 1968), 1174-1191.
BOOK REVIEWS
2003: "The World's Largest Hypocrisies"; Review of The Maverick Republic: Thirty Years of Coverage by Jawid Laiq; Roli Books, New Delhi, 2000.
CONFERENCE PAPERS
2004: Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Contemporary India: From Partition to the Present.