Atmospheric Violence - (Contemporary Ethnography) by Omer Aijazi (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Atmospheric Violence grapples with the afterlife of environmental disasters and armed conflict and examines how people attempt to flourish despite and alongside continuing violence. Departing from conventional approaches to the study of disaster and conflict that have dominated academic studies of Kashmir, Omer Aijazi's ethnography of life in the borderlands instead explores possibilities for imagining life otherwise, in an environment where violence is everywhere, or atmospheric.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the portion of Kashmir under Pakistan's control and its surrounding mountainscapes, the book takes us to two remote mountainous valleys that have been shaped by recurring environmental disasters, as well as by the landscape of no-go zones, army barracks, and security checkpoints of the contested India/Pakistan border. Through a series of interconnected scenes from the lives of five protagonists, all of whom are precariously situated within their families or societies and rarely enjoy the expected protections of state or community, Aijazi reveals the movements, flows, and intimacies sustained by a landscape that enables alternative modes of life. Blurring the distinctions between story, theory, and activism, he explores what emerges when theory becomes a project of seeing and feeling from the non-normative standpoint of those who, like the book's protagonists, do not subscribe to the rules by which most others have come to know the world.

Bringing the critical study of disaster into conversation with a radical humanist anthropology and the capaciousness of affect theory, held accountable to Black studies and Indigenous studies, Aijazi offers a decolonial approach to disaster studies centering not on trauma and rupture but rather on repair--the social labor through which communities living with disaster refuse the conditions of death imposed upon them and create viable lives for themselves, even amidst constant diminishment and world-annihilation.

Review Quotes

"[Atmospheric Violence] builds on the author's extensive travels across the mountainous region and his conversations with the people living in the pahars (mountainscapes). . . . The result is stunning ethnographic work that illuminates the fundamentals of life in the pahars of Kashmir under Pakistani control in a fresh light."-- "The Wire"

"Omer Ajazi's writing is poetic, radical and uncannily perceptive. His work will deeply resonate with scholars interested in knowing life in its entirety, life amidst chaos and ruins. A political necessity, Aijazi's book holds valuable insights for anyone who breathes. It's a rarity and a pleasure to encounter this kind of scholarship that oscillates between heartbeats and heartaches. This is the kind of scholarship that continually simplifies the self and amplifies the other, healing our souls, shaking our mind-hearts."-- "Anthropology Book Forum"

"Atmospheric Violence is a groundbreaking and visually stunning book that delivers a sophisticated read with a distinctive voice and nuanced narratives. Combining seemingly disparate areas of research and theories from the so-called margins that desperately need to be in conversation, Omer Aijazi deftly breaks out of silos to show us the potential of creative ethnography for the twenty-first century!"-- "Gina Athena Ulysse, author of A Call to Rasanblaj: Black Feminist Futures and Ethnographic Aesthetics"