Veena Das - Slum Acts

1 Cover

2 Series Page After the Postcolonial A series sponsored by the Smuts Memorial Fund University of Cambridge AbdouMaliq Simone, Improvised Lives Veena Das, Slum Acts

3 Title Page Slum Acts Veena Das polity

4 Copyright Copyright © Veena Das 2022 The right of Veena Das to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2022 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3787-7 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942993 The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

5 Acknowledgments

6 1: Introduction Slum Actions and Definitions The Next Chapters Notes

7 2: The Catastrophic Event: Enduring Inordinate Knowledge The Event Two Ways of Deciphering a Terror Trial The Bombay Bomb Blasts The Confession The Bail Petition Begunah Qaidi: The Innocent Prisoner Bringing Social Theory into the Scene of the Inhuman Yet Another Register of Knowing Notes

8 3: The Dispersed Body of the Police and Fictions of the Law Ordinary Violence and Legal Fictions The Policing Apparatus The Dispersed Body of the Police Navigating Everyday Dangers Veeran, the Irrepressible We Want Just a Little Help A Time for Pause Notes

9 4: Detecting the Human: Under Which Skies Do We Theorize? Extreme Violence Shifting the Question A Form of Life The First Scene The Second Scene The Third Scene Notes

10 5: Conclusion: In Praise of the Minor Clean Torture or Torture Without Visible Wounds No Warrant Torture Notes

11 References

12 Index

13 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Series Page

4 Title Page

5 Copyright

6 Acknowledgments

7 Begin Reading

8 References

9 Index

10 End User License Agreement

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A series sponsored by the Smuts Memorial Fund University of Cambridge

AbdouMaliq Simone, Improvised Lives Veena Das, Slum Acts

Veena Das

polity

Copyright © Veena Das 2022

The right of Veena Das to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2022 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3787-7

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942993

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website:

politybooks.com

I was privileged to be invited to deliver the Smuts Lectures at the University of Cambridge in 2018 and want to thank Professors Ash Amin, Sruti Kapila, and Saul Debow for this invitation and the intellectual stimulation they provided during my visit. Professor Amin graciously steered discussions during the public lectures and seminars, creating an environment of intellectual excitement and vibrant exchange of ideas. I want to thank particularly James Laidlaw, Marilyn Strathern, Caroline Humphrey, Joel Robbins, Heonik Kwon, Perveez Mody, and David Mosse for their critical attention to the details that allow concepts to emerge within the ethnography.

Over the years, I have learnt much from discussions with Clara Han, Nayanika Mookherjee, Bhrigupati Singh, Sruti Chaganti, Pooja Satyogi, Aditi Saraf, Megha Sehdev, Kunal Joshi, Vaibhav Saria, Anna Wherry, Pratiksha Baxi, Didier Fassin, and Naveeda Khan on matters relating to law, policing, and surveillance.