Skip to Main Content

From Family to Police Force: Security and Belonging on a South Asian Border

Online ISBN:
9781501759550
Print ISBN:
9781501759536
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Book

From Family to Police Force: Security and Belonging on a South Asian Border

Farhana Ibrahim
Farhana Ibrahim
Indian Institute of Technology
Find on
Published online:
19 May 2022
Published in print:
15 November 2021
Online ISBN:
9781501759550
Print ISBN:
9781501759536
Publisher:
Cornell University Press

Abstract

This book illuminates the production and contestation of social, familial, and national order on a South Asian borderland. In the borderland that divides Kutch, a district in the western Indian state of Gujarat, from Sindh, a southern province in Pakistan, there are many forces at work: civil and border police, the air wing of the armed forces, paramilitary forces, and various intelligence agencies that depute officers to the region. These groups are the major actors in the field of security and policing. The book offers a bird's-eye view of these groups, drawing on long-standing anthropological engagement with the region. It observes policing on multiple levels, showing in detail that the nation-state is only one of the scales at which policing is enacted at a borderland. The book draws on multiple sources and forms of policing structure to illuminate everyday interaction on the personal scale, bringing families and individuals into the broader picture. It looks beyond the obvious sites, sources, and modes of policing to show the distinctions between the act of policing and the institution of the police.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close