India: The everyday racialised gaze towards north easterners

India: The Mongolian Fringe
by Sanjib Baruah (sacw.net - 8 March 2013)
. . . there is a ‘racialized regime of visuality’ to borrow a phrase from Cultural Studies scholar Joseph Pugliese. In India this makes its presence felt via the use of derogatory words like ‘Chinky’ or ‘flat-nosed’ in the rough and tumble of everyday life, and words like ‘Northeasterner’ or ‘Pahari’ in polite conversation. In the summer of 2012, Indian elites had to come to terms with the reality of this racialized regime of visuality when, following reports of violence between Bodos and Muslims in western Assam and rumours of possible reprisals, there was an exodus of panicked Northeasterners from major Indian cities.
http://www.sacw.net/article3883.html