From my central mountain, the point where stillness

and movement are together, I invite you to listen to the wind:

more especially to the wind from the South…

the South as the visons and wisdoms and of women:

the South as the discovering of new paradigms

Corinne Kumar. “South Wind: Towards a New Political Imaginary”

My scholarship focuses on understanding and articulating the ambitious scope of “nonviolence.” Extant literature has categorized nonviolence—especially principled and not just tactical nonviolent resistance—as an exception rather than a norm. However, my research reveals it is emic even to cultures categorized as violent, but remains unacknowledged, unrecognized and/or unelaborated because of its quotidian character.

Furthermore, my study of a significant body of resistance literature written by the Khudai Khidmatgar movement—that took place in 1930’s and 40’s British India—also disclosed key elements for creating viable change: self-transformation, peace education, radical democracy and “enlightened anarchy.”

I strongly think that the disruptive interventions the framework of nonviolence makes into given socio-political systems calls for its recognition as not only an incisive form of critique, but also a radically alternate and anarchic political. Therefore, given present-day social justice mobilizations and the demand for equitable institutions, I believe understanding the framework of nonviolence has become ever-more urgent.