Structure

Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers is broken into an introduction and 12 short works written by the author between the years of 2002 and 2009. Generally speaking the structure is chronological according to the years in which the essays were first published. Thus, in general the essays move from 2002, involving the Gujarat genocide and the Parliament attack, to 2006, involving President George W. Bush’s visit, and finally, to the 2008 Kashmir uprising and Mumbai attacks.

This chronological order helps to mimic what Roy calls in the introduction the “life of the nation” (11). By seeing these events in chronological succession, the reader can see how common violent, so-called “terrorist” attacks have become in the nation’s history. The reader can also track the rise of Hindu nationalism and the continued presence of Kashmiri separatism.

Perspective

As suggested by the words “field notes” in the title, this collection of essays is...