Why does ethno-religious violence emerge when and where it does? How does it connect to larger ecosystems and structures of change? And how might insights from sociology and transformative justice guide approaches to prevention and reconciliation?

My research program investigates ethno-religious violence in India across three levels: micro (emotional dynamics of confrontation), meso (movement ecology), and macro (media, religious fields, and postcolonial state structures). Using computational text analysis, GIS, and ethnographic video analysis, I examine how violence emerges, diffuses, and can be transformed.

At Bryn Mawr, I have begun to build a research team, the Dynamics of Aggression and Nonviolent Group Action (DANGA) Lab. The research program integrates three interconnected strands:

Micro-Strand: Emotions, Violence, and Contentious Performances

This strand examines the situational and emotional dynamics of violent confrontation. My work demonstrates how internalized interaction rituals can shift emotional trajectories and interrupt violence. Using computational text analysis of riot reports, I’ve shown that the repertoire of collective violence has been remarkably stable across decades.

Current work with the DANGA Lab develops computational models of riot action sequences and multi-modal analyses using news, photos, and video to identify conditions associated with escalation and de-escalation.

Meso-Strand: Ethno-Religious Politics in Movement Ecology

At the meso level, I reintegrate riots into the broader study of social movements, reframing unrest as one modality of collective action within larger movement ecologies.

Current work involves developing an all-India protest event dataset using “human-in-the-loop” computational methods, supported by NSF ACCESS resources. This will anchor comparative analyses of coalition-building and tactical diffusion.

Macro-Strand: Postcolonial State, Media, and Inter-Religious Contact Zones

At the macro level, I examine how cultural and institutional dynamics drive ethno-religious violence. My work traces how morally charged rumors escalate violence while ambiguity enables de-escalation, showing diffusion through vernacular-language media networks.

Future work will extend beyond violence to the broader spectrum of inter-religious encounters—conversion, coexistence, syncretism, and dialogue.

Contributions and Impact

This integrated research program advances sociology’s understanding of how violence is generated and transformed while contributing to broader interdisciplinary debates on conflict and coexistence. The DANGA Lab trains students in both qualitative and computational methods, generating unique datasets and producing collaborative scholarship.

India’s pluralism and long history of ethno-religious unrest make it an ideal site for theorizing contentious politics in contexts more reflective of the global population than Western Europe or the United States.