About DANGA Lab
The Dynamics of Aggression and Nonviolent Group Action (DANGA) Lab brings together students and faculty to investigate ethno-religious violence, social movements, and transformative justice approaches. "DANGA" means "riot" in Hindi, reflecting our focus on understanding how violence emerges and how it can be transformed.
Research Focus
Our research operates across three interconnected levels:
- Micro: Emotional dynamics of violent confrontation and de-escalation
- Meso: Movement ecology and tactical diffusion patterns
- Macro: Media networks, religious fields, and postcolonial state structures
Methods & Approach
- Computational text analysis of news reports and social media
- GIS mapping of conflict patterns and diffusion
- Ethnographic video analysis of collective action
- "Human-in-the-loop" machine learning for protest event coding
- Multi-modal analysis combining text, images, and video
Current Projects
- All-India Protest Event Dataset: Developing comprehensive database of collective action events using computational methods (supported by NSF ACCESS)
- Riot Action Sequences: Computational models of escalation and de-escalation patterns
- Media Diffusion Networks: Mapping how unrest spreads through vernacular media networks
Student Training
DANGA Lab provides undergraduate researchers with training in:
- Qualitative and computational research methods
- Data visualization and analysis
- Collaborative scholarship practices
- Connections between academic research and social justice
Resources & Tools
- Computational Resources: Access to high-performance computing through NSF ACCESS
- Software Training: Python, R, GIS, qualitative analysis software
- Data Sources: Times of India archives, social media APIs, government datasets
- Research Library: Specialized collection on South Asian politics and social movements
