Where identity and trauma converge: Hindu-Muslim perceptions of the 2002 Gujarati riots

The 2002 Gujarati Riots were one of the worst outbreaks of violence between Hindus and Muslims in India in recent history. While there have been some publications on the incident, there has been a startling lack of studies that have looked at the victims' experiences of the riots. The current study examined Hindu and Muslim perceptions of the riots by conducting a qualitative analysis of interview data. 10 Hindus and 7 Muslims currently residing in the United States that were in Gujarat during the 2002 Riots were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. The interview consisted of questions pertaining to social identity, acculturation, experience during the riots, government involvement, solutions, and coping. Using Strauss and Corbin's model of modified grounded theory, both Hindu and Muslim summaries of the interviews were analyzed using Nvivo7 Software (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Upon review of the subthemes that emerged, three principal distinctions between the Hindu and Muslim respondents were noted: (1) perceptions of the responsibility of the Gujarati government, (2) affect resulting from the experience of the riots, and (3) coping strategies utilized. In terms of beliefs about the government's role in the atrocities the Hindu participants perceived that the local and state governments acted to prevent and mitigate deterrents during the 2002 Gujarati violence, whereas the Muslim community believed the government was anti-Muslim, and helped to perpetuate the violence. Second, the feelings of hopelessness and helplessness stemming from the experience of the 2002 event that were expressed by the Muslim sample were not present among the Hindu interviewees. Third, each group of respondents relied on diverse coping mechanisms to help give meaning to the experience of the riots. The Hindu participants overwhelmingly used denial and suppression to subsequently deal with the experience, while the Muslim respondents expressed relying on their religious faith, discussing the experience within peer and familial groups, and their desire to seek justice as strategies for attempting to heal and move forward. Implications of the results were discussed based on social and cultural identity models, including in-group and out-group formation. Lastly, specific interventions and future areas of research were proposed.