Sidetracked Guijar Agitation and Train Jamming in Rajasthan as Spatiotemporal Politics

Abstract

In Rajasthan, India, the Guijjar often employ the tactic of blocking trains by sitting on the railways. Termed here as "train jamming," this piece discusses the ontological, spatio-temporal, and political positioning of this practice. The building of railways themselves ruptured lived spaces, implementing a state device to further distance economic classes and previously marginalized people. This article analyzes not only why the Guijjar sit on the train tracks, but how this interacts with the state and other cultural portrayals of train space-time. Utilizing this state-created space, the Guijjar in turn recreate its meaning and subvert the assumed purpose.