Collective Violence, Public Spaces, and the Unmaking of Men

Drawing from fieldwork in a shantytown called Dharavi in Bombay, this article considers the effects of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in December, 1993, and January, 1993. The effects of violence are charted through narrative accounts of residents of Dharavi. The article argues that collective violence brings together the nation, the neighborhood, and bodies of participants. The intersection of these three shows the procedures by which Muslim men are denuded of their masculinity.