Some Trouble with Cows. Beth Roy

Fascinating in its combination of personal stories and analytical insights, <i>Some Trouble with Cows</i> will help students of conflict understand how a seemingly irrational and archaic riot becomes a means for renegotiating the distribution of power and rights in a small community.<br /><br />Using first-person accounts of Hindus and Muslims in a remote Bangladeshi village, Beth Roy evocatively describes and analyzes a large-scale riot that profoundly altered life in the area in the 1950s. She provides a rare glimpse into the hearts and minds of the participants and their families, while touching on a range of broader issues that are vital to the sociology of communities in conflict: the changing meaning of <i>community</i>; the impact of <i>the state</i> on local society; the nature of <i>memory</i>; and the force of <i>neighborly enmity</i> in reshaping power relationships during periods of change.<br /><br />Roy's findings illustrate important theoretical issues in psychology and sociology, and her conclusions will greatly interest students of ethnic/race relations, conflict resolution, the sociology of violence, agrarian society, and South Asia.