1st Edition

Youth and Political Violence in India A Social Psychological Account of Conflict Experiences from the Kashmir Valley

By Sramana Majumdar Copyright 2020
    168 Pages
    by Routledge India

    168 Pages 8 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    This book offers a sociocultural and interdisciplinary understanding of the impact of political violence on youth behaviour. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the Kashmir valley and reports from conflict areas across the globe, the volume brings into focus the ways in which violence affects social and psychological dynamics within the individual and the community. It develops a social psychological approach to the study of youth and violent conflict in South Asia, and offers new insights into the intricacies within the discourse. Focussing on the emotions and behaviour of people in largescale conflict, it expands the discourse on the psychological dimensions of hope, aggression, emotion regulation and extremist mindset to inform policy and intervention for peacebuilding.





    Moving beyond Western psychiatric models, this book proposes a more culturally and historically rooted analysis that focusses on collective experiences of violence to de-colonise psychological science and expand the understanding of youth’s experiences with political violence. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics, psychology, peace and conflict studies, sociology and social anthropology.

    1 Social psychological approach to the understanding of conflict  2 Re-examining exposure to violence: shifting the focus to collective violence  3 The conflict in the Kashmir Valley: youth, extremism and psychological consequences  4 Violence, emotions and their regulation  5 Conflict, aggression and gender: re-viewing established links  6 Violence, hope and optimism: can negative events have positive outcomes?  7 Beyond violence: conclusions and thoughts

    Biography

    Sramana Majumdar is an academic and researcher in social and political psychology. She is currently teaching at the Department of Psychology, Ambedkar University Delhi and Ashoka University, Haryana. Her interest areas are intergroup relations, conflict, gender, peace and reconciliation. A Fulbright-Nehru Fellow (2013–2014), she received her doctorate from Jamia Millia Islamia and has been a visiting faculty at Symbiosis University, Pune, and O. P. Jindal Global University, Haryana. Drawing from psychology, history and conflict studies, her approach to the study of intergroup conflict, violence and community argues for a more inclusive, interdisciplinary method to reintegrate psychology and highlight its essential role within this overall discourse.