[Urban South Asia] Galleries of Life: Chawls of Mumbai

[Shekhar Krishnan]

Dear Friends:

See the blurb below and attachment herewith on an important new book on 
the history of Mumbai, edited by Neera Adarkar.

Information on how to order the book from Cambridge University Press 
India is given below, contact their New Delhi office.

I hope you can forward this to friends and colleagues and place an order 
through your university library.

Best,


Shekhar

-- 


THE CHAWLS OF MUMBAI: Galleries of Life
Edited by Neera Adarkar

In the 15 chapters of this book, a diverse group of writers explores the 
unique structure of the chawl, all the while considering a complicated 
and interwoven set of themes and questions. While many of
these questions remain unanswered, we struggle with them because, at 
their heart, they are the questions of Mumbai itself. With vacant land 
being non-existent, the demolition of the chawls is going to redefine 
the skyline of south and central Mumbai.

The chawls make up around 16,000 structures, located in the heart of 
Mumbai. Yet, for many of us these structures are unfamiliar, as this 
city of extremes is often understood through only its slums and its 
mansions. In this book we have tried to trace the past, present and 
future of the city, as told through and within the chawl. These 
conversations are meandering and circular, at times overlapping and 
repetitive. Like a walk through the chawl neighbourhoods themselves, 
each chapter leaves the impression, ‘Haven’t I walked down this lane 
before?’ This is both intentional and unavoidable.

How is the chawl defined? What makes it unique among the various 
building typologies located throughout the city? How have cultural 
formations emerged through the constraints imposed by such limited 
living space? These are not easy questions to answer, but this 
multi-genre book, with the help of an assemblage of visuals -- from 
floor plans, photographs and drawings to screenplay and cinematic 
representations -- attempts to consider the ways in which the chawl 
emerges as a distinct symbol of the city of Mumbai, holding not only the 
history of the city’s transformation but also its unique social identity.

Editor:

NEERA ADARKAR is an architect, urban researcher and activist, and a 
visiting faculty member of architecture and planning, Academy of 
Architecture, Mumbai. She is the co-author of One Hundred Years One 
Hundred Voices: The Millworkers of Girangaon, An Oral History which was 
shortlisted for the English Non-Fiction Crossword Hutch Book Award, 
2005. She is also a founder trustee, Majlis Legal and Cultural Centre.


CONTENTS and CONTRIBUTORS:

Foreword
by Charles Correa

Preface and Acknowledgements
by Neera Adarkar

Overview
by Sandeep Pendse, Neera Adarkar, Maura Finkelstein

Part One: History in Context
Neera Adarkar, Vanessa R. Caru, Colin Cunningham

Part Two: Towards a Present
Maura Finkelstein, Prasad Shetty, Vyjayanthi Rao

Part Three: The Space of the Chawl
Kaiwan Mehta, Amrit Gangar, Rupali Gupte, Rajesh Vora, Dev Benegal

Part Four: Issues of Identity
Sameera Khan, Sejal Shah, Smruti Koppikar

Part Five: Personal Narratives
Namdeo Dhasal (trans. Shanta Gokhale), Pradnya Daya Pawar (trans. Rajeev 
Kalekar), Arvind Adarkar, G.K. Ainpure (trans. Irawati Karnik)



Publisher: imprintOne, New Delhi
Pages : 176pp + 16pp colour plates + 8pp colour fold-out
Year : 2011
Binding : Hardback
ISBN : 9788188861125
Price: Indian Rupees 1,200/-


Available from:
Cambridge University Press India Private Limited 
http://www.cambridgeindia.org


Cambridge House, 4381/4, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002
Tel.: 43543500 Fax: 23288534 Email: cupdel at cambridge.org

C-22, Brigade M.M., K.R. Road, Jayanagar, Bengaluru-560070
Tel.: 65593388, 26764817, 26762764 Fax: 26761322 Email: 
cupbang at cambridge.org

Cambridge House, Plot No. 80, Service Industries, Shirvane, Sector-1, 
Nerul, Navi Mumbai-400706 Tel.: 27709172, 27713810 Fax: 27709173 Email: 
cupmum at cambridge.org

The Cambridge Centre, 10, Raja Subodh Mullick Square, 2nd Floor, 
Kolkata-700013
Tel.: 22259976, 22250046 Fax: 22250327 Email: cupkol at cambridge.org

The Cambridge Centre, 21/1 (New No. 49), 1st Floor, Model School Road, 
Thousand Lights, Chennai-600006
Tel.: 42146807, 28291294 Fax: 28291295 Email: cupchen at cambridge.org

House No. 3-5-874/6/4 (Near Apollo Hospital), St. No. 5, Hyderguda, 
Hyderabad-500029
Tel.: 23244458, 66101126 Fax: 23244459 Email: cuphyd at cambridge.org

Agarwal Pride, A Wing, 1308, Kasba Peth, Near Surya Hospital, Pune-411011
Tel.: 24575767, 24575768 Fax: 24575768 Email: cuppune at cambridge.org


-- 

Shekhar Krishnan
58/58A, Anand Bhavan
201, T.H. Kataria Marg (Lady Hardinge Road)
Matunga (West), Mumbai 400016, India

http://heptanesia.net
http://web.mit.edu/shekhar

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: galleries_of_life_chawls_mumbai.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 642503 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/urban-media/attachments/20110225/4bb345d3/attachment.pdf