This essay analyzes the resistive tactics of the Gulabi Gang in rural India between approximately 2006 and 2013, asserting the Gulabi Gang as a counterpublic that used violence to negotiate and achieve its counterpublicity. The Gulabi Gang represents a nodal point in a rich and complex history of resistance against gender-and caste-related violence in India. Through this analysis, I contend the group implicitly challenges the prearranged distinction between violence and legitimacy, which undergirds popular discourses, orientalist stereotypes, and much of rhetorical theory.
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