Volume VI Special Issue II February 2026

Name of Author : Mandela N

Title of the paper : Spatial Politics and Urban Marginality in Karan Mahajans The Association of Small Bombs

Abstract: Karan Mahajans The Association of Small Bombs 2016 presents a compelling literary exploration of urban space as a site of political violence, surveillance, and marginality in contemporary India. The novel foregrounds its spatial and social afterlives rather than focusing on the spectacular dimensions of terrorism, and emphasizing how violence becomes embedded within everyday urban environments. As Mahajan writes, The marketplace was gone the smell of smoke lingered in every alleyway, mingling with the screams that refused to fade Mahajan 23, illustrating how trauma permeates ordinary spaces. Drawing on Henri Lefebvres theory of the production of space, Michel Foucaults ideas on surveillance and discipline, and postcolonial urban studies, this article argues that the novel exposes the uneven distribution of vulnerability and suffering across urban populations. Markets, streets, hospitals, police stations, and prisons emerge as politically charged spaces that reproduce marginal identities, particularly among Muslim communities. By mapping trauma onto the urban landscape, Mahajan critiques ethical indifference in modern cities and redefines terrorism as a spatial process rather than a singular act.

Keywords : Spatial politics; urban marginality; terrorism; Indian English fiction; Karan Mahajan; city; trauma

DOI :

Page Number : 261-268