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

Sat Feb 26 11:05:42 EST 2011

Will definitely take a look.

Thanks,

Arafaat
www.arafaat.net 

On Feb 25, 2011, at 12:13 PM, svati shah wrote:

looks amazing, thanks

On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 9:10 AM, Shekhar Krishnan <shekhar at crit.org.in> wrote:
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

---

MIT Urban South Asia Workshop

http://bombayology.net
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/urban-media

---

MIT Urban South Asia Workshop

http://bombayology.net
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/urban-media

Arafaat A. Valiani, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Williams College
Hollander Hall, 85 Mission Park Drive
Williamstown, MA 01267, USA
Email: avaliani at williams.edu
Webpage: www.arafaat.net 

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