Socialities of Indignation

Denouncing Party Politics in Karachi

Bibliographic Data

ID2435504
AuthorsTania Ahmad (York University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume29
Issue2
Pages411-432
Publication date2014-05-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCultural Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0886-7356 • E-ISSN: 1548-1360
PublisherAmerican Anthropological Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.14506/ca29.2.12
OpenAlexW2048174684
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited21

In May 2007, in the aftermath of city-wide urban unrest mediated by live news television, Karachi residents clamored noisily, using rumors, blogs, and SMS texting to overtly denounce the violence and intimidation ploys of political parties. Their discourse took a particular form: it described the violent tactics of organized politics as repulsive, suggested the moral respectability of avoiding such party politics, and, most important, articulated the impetus to domestic confinement-being compelled to stay at home-as a shared experience. Rather than conflate the discursive content of non-participation with depoliticization, it is important to acknowledge the contingent sociality of recognizing and articulating domestic confinement as a shared experience through the indignant denunciation of political institutions. Such tactics invoke an emergent public that recuperates and politicizes the ordinary in an explicitly moral register

Criminology · Denunciation · Indignation · Media studies · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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