Claiming the city : protest, crime, and scandals in colonial Calcutta, c. 1860-1920

As the administrative and commercial capital of British India and as one of the earliest experiments in modern urbanization in the sub-continent, Calcutta proved enormously challenging to both its residents and its architects. In this imaginative study of colonial Calcutta, Anindita Ghosh charts the history of its urbanization from below- in its streets, strikes, and popular urban cultures. Claiming the City offers a close-up view of the cityâs underbelly by drawing in a range of non-archival sources- from illustrations and amateur photographs to street songs, local histories, and memoirs - which show that Calcutta was not just a âproblemâ to be disciplined and governed, as the colonialists would have us believe. Instead, the city emerges as a lively and crucial site for the shaping of the discourse on claims to urban spaces and resources by various marginal groups. Ghosh uses the everyday as a prism for exposing the wide spectrum of political and social imaginaries that shaped the city and shows how the once proverbial 'City of Palaces' slowly turned into a city of endemic unrest and strife. Departing from approaches that see the city as the unproblematic product of British initiative and disciplining, 'Claiming the city' presents the urban processes shaping Calcutta as contested and partially indigenous. In a crucial intervention the work studies how the colonial urban was not just born out of the ordered institutional spaces inscribed by public parks and squares, sewers and water supplies, roads and tramways, but also the more plebeian imprint of their circumvention by the city's inhabitants - through their use of this civic infrastructure, violence, protest and street demonstrations. In the process the book also traces the ways in which the once proverbial City of Palaces turned by the early twentieth century into a city of endemic unrest and political strife. Ghosh breaks new ground by exploring the history of colonial urbanization from below through a wide range of sources, from street songs and photographs to local histories and memoirs, in addition to the more well-known official archives. In bringing together for the first time both known and unknown histories of the city in imaginative ways, the book weaves a vibrant narrative of everyday life in colonial Calcutta. Scandal, rumour, murder and music help locate energetic lower layers of public sphere in the city that were deeply invested in the urban. By highlighting the tensions of living in a rapidly changing world of technological innovations, social and moral dilemmas, municipal strictures and grinding poverty, the book establishes Calcuttas residents not as passive consumers but rightful claimants to the city Présentation de l'éditeur: "As the administrative and commercial capital of British India and as one of the earliest experiments in modern urbanization in the sub-continent, Calcutta proved enormously challenging to both its residents and its architects. In this imaginative study of colonial Calcutta, Anindita Ghosh charts the history of its urbanization from below- in its streets, strikes, and popular urban cultures. Claiming the City offers a close-up view of the citys underbelly by drawing in a range of non-archival sources- from illustrations and amateur photographs to street songs, local histories, and memoirs - which show that Calcutta was not just a problem to be disciplined and governed, as the colonialists would have us believe. Instead, the city emerges as a lively and crucial site for the shaping of the discourse on claims to urban spaces and resources by various marginal groups. Ghosh uses the everyday as a prism for exposing the wide spectrum of political and social imaginaries that shaped the city and shows how the once proverbial City of Palaces slowly turned into a city of endemic unrest and strife." This study on colonial Calcutta charts the history of its urbanization from below in its streets, strikes and popular urban cultures. It offers a close up view of the city's underbelly by drawing on a range of non-archival sources, from illustrations and amateur photographs to street songs, local histories and memoirs which show how Calcutta was not just a problem to be disciplined and governed as the colonialists would have us believe. Instead, it emerges as a remarkably lively and crucial site for the shaping of a discourse of rights and claims to the city by various marginal urban groups Title Pages Anindita Ghosh Title Pages (p.i) Claiming the City (p.ii) (p.iii) Claiming the City Title Pages