Stimmungslagen und mobile Akteure. Ein Konflikt in einer südindischen Kleinstadt 2008 bis 2012

Abstract

On 21 September 2009, the Hindu published an article titled, "Property dispute snowballs into tension". In the previous year a dispute over a funeral and the inheritance of a family property marked the beginning of a larger conflict in Kotagiri town and the surrounding Badaga villages. The local councils decided that the disputed land should be given to the family's only son, but his sisters were the legal owners and rejected this decision. This led to the excommunication of the sisters, and broader disputes about the status of traditional legal institutions and the autonomy of ethnic-based jurisdiction. The state interfered and traditional leaders were arrested. Within a few hours supporters of those leaders blocked roads and boycotted shops and schools. After intense negotiation and posting bail they were released. These events raised questions about tradition, gender, party politics, ethnic autonomy and the relationship to the state. In the years that followed, the conflict continued to influence other areas of social, economic, and ritual life. I argue that atmospheres, as the felt quality of the surrounding space, fanned the flames of the larger conflict. People who participated or witnessed public tension were emotionally affected. Fear, anger, anxiety, uncertainty and disappointment became dominant emotions. News transmitted electronically and in daily papers and TV spread tension. But the human body appeared as the most effective medium for the continuity of the larger conflict. Emotive states were stored in human bodies and carried to local bazaars and into the villages. Local atmospheres were interconnected and formed larger atmospheres.