‘Enough Racism, Enough’: Vocal Politics, Gendered Silences

Abstract

Two murders in Delhi, Reingamphi Awungshi in 2013 and Nido Tania in 2014 illustrate very different dynamics in race debates. Despite occurring at the pinnacle of attention to racism, Reingamphi’s murder went mostly unnoticed outside Northeast communities. It is argued that Reingamphi could not easily be cast as an innocent victim owing to perceptions of race, gender and her occupation at a beauty spa. This suggests that gender complicates race debates for a society fixated with morality. By contrast the death of Nido Tania galvanized abhorrence of racism and produced unprecedented media and political attention, the content of which is explored in depth. The factors coalescing around Nido’s death are also analyzed, including a national election campaign, his background, and the persistence of domestic geopolitical anxieties.