This article was downloaded by: [Rajagopal, Arvind] [New York University] On: 15 October 2010 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 922517640] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK ISSN 1947-2486 South Asian History and Culture Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t911470578 South Asian HISTORY ™& CULTURE Special political zone: urban planning, spatial segregation and the infrastructure of violence in Ahmedabad Arvind Rajagopalª a Departments of Media, Culture and Communication, Sociology, and Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, New York, USA Online publication date: 15 October 2010 To cite this Article Rajagopal, Arvind(2010) 'Special political zone: urban planning, spatial segregation and the infrastructure of violence in Ahmedabad', South Asian History and Culture, 1: 4, 529 - 556 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/19472498.2010.507024 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2010.507024 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld. com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
South Asian History and Culture Vol. 1, No. 4, October 2010, 529-556 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group ROUTLEDGE Special political zone: urban planning, spatial segregation and the infrastructure of violence in Ahmedabad1 Arvind Rajagopal* Departments of Media, Culture and Communication, Sociology, and Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, New York, USA The violence in Gujarat in 2002 presented a paradoxical phenomenon, namely, a spec- tacle of violence ostensibly enacted by non-state forces that was covertly and overtly sanctioned by the state. Violence was both spatially localized and physically concen- trated on Muslims. Apologists invoked a history of communal conflict and specifically of Muslim provocation, explaining the pogrom of 2002 as having ample precedent and justifiable cause. This paper addresses Ahmedabad's urbanity as an enabling locus for such violence, and draws on historical and ethnographic research to argue that spatial and perceptual practices in the city have combined to ghettoize Muslims, and produce forms of knowledge complicit with structural and episodic violence against them. Such practices (and their discursive uptake) are enabled by political conjunctures that give structurally embedded processes form and visibility. This paper explores the issue of political violence and Muslim vulnerability in Gujarat under the explanatory rubric of the 'Special Political Zone,' an informal analogue to a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the latter being a site exempt from prevailing regulations, purportedly to enhance eco-