The papers in this issue of SubVersions have their genesis in the 5th edition of Frames of Reference (FoR), the annual student-organised seminar of the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The theme of the seminar, ‘Violence/Erasure/Memory’ was an attempt to initiate conversations around the wave of communal violence that swept through many parts of the country two decades ago in the aftermath of large-scale mobilisation by various Hindu fundamentalist outfits around the Babri Masjid dispute. The contemporary resurgence of the chauvinist right-wing forces in the country, built upon a sustained campaign to rewrite history and erase memories, warrants an engagement with voices that explore memories of violence and the violence of erasure, not only in the context of religion but also in the context of everyday, normalised – physical as well as symbolic – violence that preserves and perpetuates the oppressive edifices of patriarchy, caste, and class.