Post-independence homescapes in Delhi
Mohan Rakesh’s Andhere Band Kamre and a nouveau middle-class amidst persistent inequality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12985771 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sumedha Chakravarthy (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies), Erin P Riggs (0000-0003-4019-2484, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 385-406 |
| Publication date | 2021-08-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | South Asian History and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1947-2498 • E-ISSN: 1947-2501 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/19472498.2021.1956118 |
| OpenAlex | W3192681564 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 23 |
After Independence, Delhi’s residential landscapes began to change, but to what degree did such changes impact the way individuals perceived of the city? The colonial government had drawn boundaries around impoverished spaces, removing and segregating them from hyper-regulated wealthy spaces. In contrast, the postcolonial state saw all spaces as falling within its regulatory purview and sought to actively intervene in such areas, not simply destroy or hide them. The postcolonial state also heavily invested in public housing and undertook ambitious projects aimed at bettering the living situations of the middle-class. Using a discussion of the homes and cityscapes described in Mohan Rakesh’s 1966 book Andhere Band Kamre, we consider how individuals perceived of built landscapes in Delhi during this post-Independence period of rapid change. We then present information from a present-day architectural survey of the locations described by Rakesh, drawing attention to the legacies of this post-Independence moment within the modern city. We conclude that, while the city remained segregated by wealth after Independence, many individuals experienced a fleeting optimism pertaining to their ability to move across hierarchical landscapes–an optimism that diminished as the transformative projects of the Nehruvian state struggled to significantly curb inequality
Government (linguistics · Independence (probability theory · Middle class · Optimism · Political science · Sociology · State (computer science · Transformative learning · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Urban Planning and Governance
Hegemonic Aspirations
The Materiality of Stone
Being Middle-class in India
Role of state and market in housing delivery for low-income groups in India
Muslims in Indian cities, trajectories of marginalisation
Housing supply in Delhi
India at a Glance
The Lost Boys of Zeta Psi
Altered Realities, New Experiences
Landscapes of Accumulation
Depths and Folds
The productive fuzziness of land documents
The Perception of the Environment
Gating and Class Relations
Political Leadership and the Urban Poor
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |