Recent excavations suggest that Delhi – or the area around which today’s cities of Delhi have grown – has been continuously occupied at least since the early historical period of around the 3rd Century BC. The capital of the republic of India today, Delhi has been the site of major regional political power for millennia. Thus, until the ‘partitioning’ of India took place at the time of Independence from colonial rule in 1947, Delhi was a cluster of distinct, though scattered, townships, each linked to a particular moment in history. And then, after almost a million people poured into Delhi from what was to become Pakistan at the time of ‘Partition’, the population of the city doubled and many of the empty patches between the older cities of Delhi were filled in. Even so, the Delhi we have today is a visibly disparate collection of formal, post-Independence, planned residential neighborhoods; ancient villages in various stages of transformation to modernity; informal clusters of homes created by or for the poor; and archaeological and historical sites – some of them, like Old Delhi, still distinct, living cities in themselves, others abandoned curiosities. Then there are the new industrial and high-rise residential and commercial centers, and there is New Delhi: the colonial-era showpiece that now forms the central cog of the ever-spiraling wheel that keeps Delhi, and India, spinning. And yet, the many Delhis are always in a process of reaction and interaction, within themselves as well as with each other.
There are many ways to theorize the city. One can focus on the physical geography of a place, using maps and street guides to get a sense of what is where. One can develop a geography of the imagination, which helps to build and enhance one’s reserves of historical and ethnographic detail, and to comprehend spatial layouts and features in multi-dimensional ways. For instance, the very mention of a particular neighborhood in a city one knows well can set off a chain of mental images and ideas about the physical location, perceived ethnic composition, and economic, cultural, or social dynamics of that particular neighborhood.
This course uses all of these tools to study the cities of Delhi. It may not be possible to comprehend all the geospatial, socio-cultural, and ethno-historical facets of a city over one semester of study. But it is possible to develop one’s own unique mental map and story of a city during this time, and this course aims to help each student create just such a story to take away with him or herself at the end of the day. Some of the questions asked as we attempt to put together these personalized narratives of Delhi are: What makes this city work? What are its many disparate yet interlocked stories? Who are the people who shape its destiny, and how do they function? These questions are approached through a mix of formal lectures and readings, field visits and conversations with ‘Delhiwallahs’, and by working things out for ourselves through discussions and projects. Students can opt for more or less directed support while working through their projects, depending on their own individual comfort levels with the topics studied. Typically, each week includes one hour of structured classroom teaching and two hours of field-visits, discussions, or supervised small-group work. Some field trips, like the one to Mehrauli-Gurgaon, take several hours to complete, and the hours of teaching are adjusted accordingly.
Prerequisites:
None.
Method of presentation:
Lecture, discussion, and field study
Required work and form of assessment:
Midterm exam: 25%; Personal Delhi map and portfolio: 25%; Individual project or research paper: 25%, Final exam: 25%
content:
Week 1: Marking out the coordinates: The introductory hour of the course focuses on a study of a basic map of the city. We will try to get our bearings, perhaps by mapping out where each of us is going to live through this semester, and also by locating on the map the areas of the city that we will focus on over the months. Each student will also start work on two projects that will run through the semester: (1) A personal map of the city of Delhi on which, over time, the details of each student’s immediate neighborhoods and other locations that particularly interest them will be marked. (2) This map will be supplemented by a personal portfolio of impressions, photographs, ticket stubs, interview transcripts, and any other material that each student might think fit to include.
A short movie, ‘The Past is a Foreign Country’ (made by Anand Vivek Taneja et al, 2004) will be shown.
[Readings: Chaudhuri 2006, ‘A Journey Into Time’, in Light, Shades, Shadows, pp. 17-24; Dupont et al 2000, ‘The Alchemy of an Unloved City’, in DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 15-25; Kumar 2002, ‘Making Sacred History or Everyone His/Her Own Historian: The Pasts of the Village of Saidlajab’, in The Present in Delhi’s Pasts, pp. 95-118; Amin 2003, ‘Past Remains’, in Conversations, vol. 3 no. 2, Summer 2003, pp. 77-84.]
Week 1 (continued): Reading the city: We will now attempt to construct a theory of the city. What
are the different ways in which one might study a city? What are the overarching themes or ideas around which cities have been visualized, planned, built, and managed? How do all these ideas fit in the context of Delhi?
[Readings: Khosla 2005, ‘The City as an Idea’, in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 9-22; Prakash 2002, ‘The Urban Turn’, in Sarai Reader 02: The Cities of Everyday Life, pp. 2-7; Soja 2004, ‘Exopolis: The Restructuring of Urban Form’ in Miles et al ed. The City Cultures Reader, Urban Reader Series, pp. 453-460; Wilson 2004, ‘World Cities’, in Miles et al ed. The City Cultures Reader, Urban Reader Series, pp. 40-48.]
DISCUSSION AND ASSIGNMENT OF INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS
Week 2: New Delhi: We will move on to a discussion of New Delhi, designed by Edward Lutyens in the last years of the British Empire and subsequently taken over by the new Indian government for its offices of state. Central Delhi, around India Gate, is a familiar axis to orient oneself around, and is pleasant to walk about in the late winter! The discussions will focus on the manner in which the British followed Delhi’s earlier monarchs by building a new capital just south of the Mughal one they overpowered, and how the government of independent India has used these spaces.
Field Trips: Visits to one or more of the following sites in New Delhi may be planned, perhaps based on a
popular vote: the President’s (earlier the British Viceroy’s) mansion, the houses of Parliament, the Supreme Court of India. All these places require prior registration. Suggestions for recommended individual trips will be made, based on specific interests, which might include the visual or performing arts, politics, local histories.
[Readings: Bajaj 2004, ‘The Building of New Delhi’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 69-74; Kohli 2005, ‘The Creation of a Planned City’ in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 67-91; Irving 1981, Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker and the Making of Imperial Delhi; Metcalf 1993, ‘Architecture and Empire: Sir Herbert Baker and the Building of New Delhi’, in Frykenberg ed., Delhi Through the Ages, pp. 247-256.]
Weeks 3 and 4: Old Delhi: We will now move immediately to the north of New Delhi, to the erstwhile
Shajahanabad: the walled city around the Red Fort that the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan built in the 1600s, and which was the capital city until New Delhi was built. Though the old city today is a cluttered, faded version of the original, and was dramatically altered at the time of Partition, there is a great deal of continuity that has been maintained, for instance in the form of the many traditional markets for everything from spices to metals. The history, economy, and varied religious and social make-up of the old city over time will be discussed, and supplemented by walks and visits. Recent efforts to ‘decongest’ the old city by moving the poorest work-people to far-flung ‘resettlement sites’ will be examined.
Field trips: Old Delhi walks with specially trained guides will form part of this section. Visits to the Red Fort, St. James Church and Gurudwara Sisganj, as well as tours of distinct residential neighborhoods conducted by local residents, will be made.
One teaching hour will be covered by an expert guest speaker (Narayani Gupta).
[Readings: Spear 1999, Delhi its monuments and history; Hearn 1906, 2005, ‘Shahjahanabad’, The Seven Cities of Delhi; Kaul ed., ‘Shahjahanabad’, in Historic Delhi: An Anthology, pp. 41-47; Varma 1989, ‘The Trauma of 1857’, in Ghalib: The Man, The Times, pp. 140-172; Gupta 1999, ‘The British Peace and the British Terror’, in Delhi Between Two Empires 1803-1931, pp. 31-38.]
Weeks 5 and 6: Older Delhis: Rajput Delhi (Surajkund); Sultanate Delhi (the Qutb Minar) and Delhi’s villages (for instance, Chirag Dilli, Begampur, Mohammadpur, Hauz Khas and Nizamuddin) will be studied. The first two of these locations have turned into abandoned tourist spots, while the villages are following interestingly different trajectories. Chirag Dilli village has remained remarkably unchanged over time; Hauz Khas has been transformed into a chic new shopping district. Other villages, like Mohammadpur, have been turned into illegal, disorderly shopping and residential areas by taking advantage of laws that exempt old villages from the constraints of modern Master Plans. Nizamuddin has become a sacred site and a tourist favorite.
Field trips: A half-day trip to Surajkund, if possible. A walk through Chirag Dilli or Hauz Khas villages.
[Readings: Singh 1999, Ancient Delhi, pp. 1-20; Peck 2005, ‘Rajput Delhi’ and ‘Early Sultanate Delhi’, in Delhi A Thousand Years of Building, pp. 25-46.]
Week 7: MIDTERM EXAM
Weeks 8 and 9: Times of Upheaval: Partition, the Emergency, and the purges of 1984: We skip back to the period immediately after Independence, and study the lowest moments in the city’s modern history. Each of these events has had profound effects that have comprehensively changed the visual and cultural character of the city completely, and these changes will be studied and discussed.
[Readings: Yashpal 2004, ‘Delhi, 1947’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 81-87; Sabharwal 2004, ‘Delhi During Emergency’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 127-136; Bhagat 2004, ‘Now the Tears have Dried Up’ in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 137-142; Dalrymple 1993, City of Djinns, A Year in Delhi, pp. 27-45; Chaudhuri 2006, Light, Shades, Shadows, pp. 77-104; Tarlo 2003, Unsettling Memories: Narratives of India’s Emergency.]
Week 10: The many modern Delhis: Mehrauli-Gurgaon: This section of the course will start by looking at the southern suburbs of Delhi, which include a vast archaeological park, a part of which was temporarily converted into private property by the British Resident (Governor) of the time. We will then move to Gurgaon, which has developed as the most modern face of Delhi: it has rows and rows of high- rise apartments, a mall strip, sites for back-offices of international banks, the IT industry, and call- centers for a range of international service agencies. And then, Gurgaon also has an old industrial district, where employees of Honda recently clashed violently with the local state and business leaders.
Field trips and other activities: A guided tour of the archaeological park, a visit to the malls, and a drive around rich and poor Gurgaon are planned.
Guest speaker and movie: Call-centers; video clips: Violence in Gurgaon.
[Readings: Narayanan 2006, ‘Delhi Shining: The vacuum-sealed world of shopping malls’, in Ahuja and Brosius ed., Mumbai – Delhi - Kolkata. Approaches to metropolitan cities in India, pp. 157-172; Dupont 2005, ‘The Idea of a New Chic Delhi through Publicity Hype’, in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 78-93].
Week 11: The Many Modern Delhis: Delhi’s upper- and middle-class ‘colonies’: ‘Partition’ changed Delhi forever, in terms of population, ethnic make-up, social and economic activity, and basic geographical layout. With reference to planning documents, we will examine how the neighborhoods for the refugees from Pakistan were created, then move on to other Master-Plan ideals like the obsession with creating ‘the city beautiful’ by removing everything considered unavoidable nuisances, such as: the informal settlements of the poor, older commercial activities, and older industries. We will also examine the growth of gated enclaves, whereby Delhi’s elite manages to fence off and gate public thoroughfares to create protected, guarded enclaves. This elite has, of late, also banded together in increasingly more powerful ‘resident-welfare associations’ or neighborhood organizations that can influence the city government in its policy towards slums and commercial establishments in the ‘colony’ or residential neighborhood. The third area that will be examined will be Delhi’s complex ethnic identity through its major religious and regional communities and their opinions and stereotypes about themselves and each other.
A short movie, ‘The House on Gulmohur Avenue’ (made by Sameena Mishra), and a suggested trip to a
successfully ‘mixed’ older middle-class neighborhood like Karol Bagh will supplement this third focus.
[Readings: Kacker 2005, ‘The DDA and the Idea of Delhi’, in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 68-77; Menon 2000, ‘The Contemporary Architecture of Delhi: The Role of the State as Middleman’, in Dupont et al ed., DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 143-156; Kohli 2001, ‘The Creation of a Planned City’, in Singh et al ed., The Millenium Book on New Delhi, pp. 67-94; Nair 2001, ‘City of Walls, City of Gates’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 265-286.]
Week 12: The Many Modern Delhis, Part II: Delhi’s Poor: The city’s policy of violent removal of the city’s poor and working classes will be examined, with reference to the Master Plan. The process of the eviction and partial resettlement of the city’s poor will be studied and discussed. The complications created by the different levels of government operating simultaneously in Delhi (Central or Federal, State and Municipal or City-level) will be discussed.
Field trips: A visit to an evicted slum location, and another visit to a resettlement site on the city’s outskirts that will be reached by way of a trip on the ultramodern metro railway. There will be a visit to the Salaam Balak trust for street children, and a guest speaker on legislation that victimizes those identified as ‘beggars’.
[Readings: Tarlo 1999, ‘Welcome to History: A Resettlement Colony in the Making’, in Dupont et al ed.,
DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 51-75; Soni 1999, ‘Urban Conquest of Outer Delhi: Beneficiaries, Intermediaries and Victims, in Dupont et al ed., DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 75-94; Batra 2006 in Ahuja and Brosius ed., Mumbai – Delhi - Kolkata. Approaches to metropolitan cities in India, pp. 173-190; Tully 2001, ‘The Travails of a Metropolis’, in Singh et al ed., The Millenium Book on New Delhi, pp. 165-188.]
Week 13: The Many Modern Delhis, Part II: Religion as Theme-Park: Nothing much survives of the ancient Hindu temples in the Delhi area, except as architectural fragments incorporated into other, newer, structures, but this gap has – perhaps – been filled by some ultra-modern temples that include, among other things, animated displays and dioramas. Some new temples, like the Akshardham temple along the highway through East Delhi, are the products of enormous political power.
Field trip: A visit to the Akshardham temple.
PRE-FINAL REVIEW
Week 14: Short presentations of individual project reports will be made, as a basis for a discussion and review of the material covered by the course.
Week 15: FINAL EXAM
Week 16: A review of the individual maps and portfolios created by each student will be conducted, and a discussion on how they differ or are similar will serve to wrap up the course.
Required readings:
Kumar, Sunil. The Present in Delhi’s Pasts. New Delhi: Three Essays Press, 2002.
Spear, Percival. Delhi: Its Monuments and History. Updated and annotated by Narayani Gupta and Laura
Sykes. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.
A reader composed of the extracts listed under each week’s topic above. A complete list of all the sources for the reader follows:
Ahuja, Ravi and Christiane Brosius ed. (2006) Mumbai – Delhi - Kolkata. Approaches to metropolitan cities in India, Draupadi Verlag Heidelberg (This book is in German; English translations of the two selected chapters will be included in the reader.)
Amin, Shahid. “Past Remains.” Conversations, vol. 3 no. 2, Summer 2003.
Chaudhuri, D.N. Light, Shades, Shadows. New Delhi: Niyogi Offset, 2005.
Dalrymple, William. City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi. London: Flamingo, 1993.
Dupont, Veronique, Emma Tarlo, and Denis Vidal. Delhi: Urban Space and Human Destinies. New Delhi: Manohar, 2000.
Frykenberg, R.E., ed. Delhi Through the Ages: Selected Essays in Urban History, Culture, and Society. New Delhi: OUP, 1993.
Gupta, Narayani. Delhi Between Two Empires, 1803-1931. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.
Hearn, Gordon Risley. The Seven Cities of Delhi. New Delhi: Aryan Books, 1906/2005.
Irving, R.G. Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker, and the Making of Imperial Delhi. Yale University Press, 1981.
Kaul, H.K. Historic Delhi: An Anthology. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.
Khosla, Romi ed. The Idea of DELHI. Mumbai: Marg, 2005.
Miles, Malcolm, Tim Hall, and Iain Borden. The City Cultures Reader. London: Routledge Urban Readers Series, 2004.
Peck, Lucy. Delhi: A thousand years of building. New Delhi: Roli Books. Sarai Reader 02: The Cities of Everyday Life. New Delhi: Sarai: The New Media Initiative, 2002.
Singh, B.P. and Pavan K. Varma, eds. The Millennium Book on New Delhi. New Delhi: OUP, 2001.
Singh, Khushwant, ed. City Improbable: Writings on Delhi. New Delhi: Penguin, 2004.
Singh, Upinder. Ancient Delhi. New Delhi, 1999.
Tarlo, Emma. Unsettling Memories: Narratives of India’s Emergency. New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2003.
Varma, Pavan K. Ghalib the Man, the Times. New Delhi: Penguin, 1999.
Recommended readings:
Archaeological Survey of India. Delhi and its Neighborhood. New Delhi: ASI, 1990.
Barton, Gaynor and Laurraine Malone. Old Delhi: 10 Easy Walks. New Delhi: Rupa, 1997.
Centre for Civil Society. State of Governance Delhi Citizen Handbook 2006. New Delhi: Centre for Civil Society, 2006.
Festing, Gabrielle. When Kings Rode to Delhi. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1912/1997.
Goel, Vijay. Delhi: The Emperor’s City. New Delhi: Roli Books, 2003.
Rahman, S.A. ed. The Beautiful India: Delhi. New Delhi: Reference Press, 2005.
Sinha, Ranjit. Lalkot to Lodi Gardens: Delhi of Sultans. New Delhi: Rupa, 1996.
Smith, R.V. The Delhi that No-one Knows. New Delhi: Chronicle Books, 2005.
Spear, Percival, Narayani Gupta, and R.E. Frykenberg. The Delhi Omnibus. New Delhi: OUP.
Recent excavations suggest that Delhi – or the area around which today’s cities of Delhi have grown – has been continuously occupied at least since the early historical period of around the 3rd Century BC. The capital of the republic of India today, Delhi has been the site of major regional political power for millennia. Thus, until the ‘partitioning’ of India took place at the time of Independence from colonial rule in 1947, Delhi was a cluster of distinct, though scattered, townships, each linked to a particular moment in history. And then, after almost a million people poured into Delhi from what was to become Pakistan at the time of ‘Partition’, the population of the city doubled and many of the empty patches between the older cities of Delhi were filled in. Even so, the Delhi we have today is a visibly disparate collection of formal, post-Independence, planned residential neighborhoods; ancient villages in various stages of transformation to modernity; informal clusters of homes created by or for the poor; and archaeological and historical sites – some of them, like Old Delhi, still distinct, living cities in themselves, others abandoned curiosities. Then there are the new industrial and high-rise residential and commercial centers, and there is New Delhi: the colonial-era showpiece that now forms the central cog of the ever-spiraling wheel that keeps Delhi, and India, spinning. And yet, the many Delhis are always in a process of reaction and interaction, within themselves as well as with each other.
There are many ways to theorize the city. One can focus on the physical geography of a place, using maps and street guides to get a sense of what is where. One can develop a geography of the imagination, which helps to build and enhance one’s reserves of historical and ethnographic detail, and to comprehend spatial layouts and features in multi-dimensional ways. For instance, the very mention of a particular neighborhood in a city one knows well can set off a chain of mental images and ideas about the physical location, perceived ethnic composition, and economic, cultural, or social dynamics of that particular neighborhood.
This course uses all of these tools to study the cities of Delhi. It may not be possible to comprehend all the geospatial, socio-cultural, and ethno-historical facets of a city over one semester of study. But it is possible to develop one’s own unique mental map and story of a city during this time, and this course aims to help each student create just such a story to take away with him or herself at the end of the day. Some of the questions asked as we attempt to put together these personalized narratives of Delhi are: What makes this city work? What are its many disparate yet interlocked stories? Who are the people who shape its destiny, and how do they function? These questions are approached through a mix of formal lectures and readings, field visits and conversations with ‘Delhiwallahs’, and by working things out for ourselves through discussions and projects. Students can opt for more or less directed support while working through their projects, depending on their own individual comfort levels with the topics studied. Typically, each week includes one hour of structured classroom teaching and two hours of field-visits, discussions, or supervised small-group work. Some field trips, like the one to Mehrauli-Gurgaon, take several hours to complete, and the hours of teaching are adjusted accordingly.
None.
Lecture, discussion, and field study
Midterm exam: 25%; Personal Delhi map and portfolio: 25%; Individual project or research paper: 25%, Final exam: 25%
Week 1: Marking out the coordinates: The introductory hour of the course focuses on a study of a basic map of the city. We will try to get our bearings, perhaps by mapping out where each of us is going to live through this semester, and also by locating on the map the areas of the city that we will focus on over the months. Each student will also start work on two projects that will run through the semester: (1) A personal map of the city of Delhi on which, over time, the details of each student’s immediate neighborhoods and other locations that particularly interest them will be marked. (2) This map will be supplemented by a personal portfolio of impressions, photographs, ticket stubs, interview transcripts, and any other material that each student might think fit to include.
A short movie, ‘The Past is a Foreign Country’ (made by Anand Vivek Taneja et al, 2004) will be shown.
[Readings: Chaudhuri 2006, ‘A Journey Into Time’, in Light, Shades, Shadows, pp. 17-24; Dupont et al 2000, ‘The Alchemy of an Unloved City’, in DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 15-25; Kumar 2002, ‘Making Sacred History or Everyone His/Her Own Historian: The Pasts of the Village of Saidlajab’, in The Present in Delhi’s Pasts, pp. 95-118; Amin 2003, ‘Past Remains’, in Conversations, vol. 3 no. 2, Summer 2003, pp. 77-84.]
Week 1 (continued): Reading the city: We will now attempt to construct a theory of the city. What
are the different ways in which one might study a city? What are the overarching themes or ideas around which cities have been visualized, planned, built, and managed? How do all these ideas fit in the context of Delhi?
[Readings: Khosla 2005, ‘The City as an Idea’, in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 9-22; Prakash 2002, ‘The Urban Turn’, in Sarai Reader 02: The Cities of Everyday Life, pp. 2-7; Soja 2004, ‘Exopolis: The Restructuring of Urban Form’ in Miles et al ed. The City Cultures Reader, Urban Reader Series, pp. 453-460; Wilson 2004, ‘World Cities’, in Miles et al ed. The City Cultures Reader, Urban Reader Series, pp. 40-48.]
DISCUSSION AND ASSIGNMENT OF INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS
Week 2: New Delhi: We will move on to a discussion of New Delhi, designed by Edward Lutyens in the last years of the British Empire and subsequently taken over by the new Indian government for its offices of state. Central Delhi, around India Gate, is a familiar axis to orient oneself around, and is pleasant to walk about in the late winter! The discussions will focus on the manner in which the British followed Delhi’s earlier monarchs by building a new capital just south of the Mughal one they overpowered, and how the government of independent India has used these spaces.
Field Trips: Visits to one or more of the following sites in New Delhi may be planned, perhaps based on a
popular vote: the President’s (earlier the British Viceroy’s) mansion, the houses of Parliament, the Supreme Court of India. All these places require prior registration. Suggestions for recommended individual trips will be made, based on specific interests, which might include the visual or performing arts, politics, local histories.
[Readings: Bajaj 2004, ‘The Building of New Delhi’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 69-74; Kohli 2005, ‘The Creation of a Planned City’ in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 67-91; Irving 1981, Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker and the Making of Imperial Delhi; Metcalf 1993, ‘Architecture and Empire: Sir Herbert Baker and the Building of New Delhi’, in Frykenberg ed., Delhi Through the Ages, pp. 247-256.]
Weeks 3 and 4: Old Delhi: We will now move immediately to the north of New Delhi, to the erstwhile
Shajahanabad: the walled city around the Red Fort that the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan built in the 1600s, and which was the capital city until New Delhi was built. Though the old city today is a cluttered, faded version of the original, and was dramatically altered at the time of Partition, there is a great deal of continuity that has been maintained, for instance in the form of the many traditional markets for everything from spices to metals. The history, economy, and varied religious and social make-up of the old city over time will be discussed, and supplemented by walks and visits. Recent efforts to ‘decongest’ the old city by moving the poorest work-people to far-flung ‘resettlement sites’ will be examined.
Field trips: Old Delhi walks with specially trained guides will form part of this section. Visits to the Red Fort, St. James Church and Gurudwara Sisganj, as well as tours of distinct residential neighborhoods conducted by local residents, will be made.
One teaching hour will be covered by an expert guest speaker (Narayani Gupta).
[Readings: Spear 1999, Delhi its monuments and history; Hearn 1906, 2005, ‘Shahjahanabad’, The Seven Cities of Delhi; Kaul ed., ‘Shahjahanabad’, in Historic Delhi: An Anthology, pp. 41-47; Varma 1989, ‘The Trauma of 1857’, in Ghalib: The Man, The Times, pp. 140-172; Gupta 1999, ‘The British Peace and the British Terror’, in Delhi Between Two Empires 1803-1931, pp. 31-38.]
Weeks 5 and 6: Older Delhis: Rajput Delhi (Surajkund); Sultanate Delhi (the Qutb Minar) and Delhi’s villages (for instance, Chirag Dilli, Begampur, Mohammadpur, Hauz Khas and Nizamuddin) will be studied. The first two of these locations have turned into abandoned tourist spots, while the villages are following interestingly different trajectories. Chirag Dilli village has remained remarkably unchanged over time; Hauz Khas has been transformed into a chic new shopping district. Other villages, like Mohammadpur, have been turned into illegal, disorderly shopping and residential areas by taking advantage of laws that exempt old villages from the constraints of modern Master Plans. Nizamuddin has become a sacred site and a tourist favorite.
Field trips: A half-day trip to Surajkund, if possible. A walk through Chirag Dilli or Hauz Khas villages.
[Readings: Singh 1999, Ancient Delhi, pp. 1-20; Peck 2005, ‘Rajput Delhi’ and ‘Early Sultanate Delhi’, in Delhi A Thousand Years of Building, pp. 25-46.]
Week 7: MIDTERM EXAM
Weeks 8 and 9: Times of Upheaval: Partition, the Emergency, and the purges of 1984: We skip back to the period immediately after Independence, and study the lowest moments in the city’s modern history. Each of these events has had profound effects that have comprehensively changed the visual and cultural character of the city completely, and these changes will be studied and discussed.
[Readings: Yashpal 2004, ‘Delhi, 1947’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 81-87; Sabharwal 2004, ‘Delhi During Emergency’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 127-136; Bhagat 2004, ‘Now the Tears have Dried Up’ in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 137-142; Dalrymple 1993, City of Djinns, A Year in Delhi, pp. 27-45; Chaudhuri 2006, Light, Shades, Shadows, pp. 77-104; Tarlo 2003, Unsettling Memories: Narratives of India’s Emergency.]
Week 10: The many modern Delhis: Mehrauli-Gurgaon: This section of the course will start by looking at the southern suburbs of Delhi, which include a vast archaeological park, a part of which was temporarily converted into private property by the British Resident (Governor) of the time. We will then move to Gurgaon, which has developed as the most modern face of Delhi: it has rows and rows of high- rise apartments, a mall strip, sites for back-offices of international banks, the IT industry, and call- centers for a range of international service agencies. And then, Gurgaon also has an old industrial district, where employees of Honda recently clashed violently with the local state and business leaders.
Field trips and other activities: A guided tour of the archaeological park, a visit to the malls, and a drive around rich and poor Gurgaon are planned.
Guest speaker and movie: Call-centers; video clips: Violence in Gurgaon.
[Readings: Narayanan 2006, ‘Delhi Shining: The vacuum-sealed world of shopping malls’, in Ahuja and Brosius ed., Mumbai – Delhi - Kolkata. Approaches to metropolitan cities in India, pp. 157-172; Dupont 2005, ‘The Idea of a New Chic Delhi through Publicity Hype’, in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 78-93].
Week 11: The Many Modern Delhis: Delhi’s upper- and middle-class ‘colonies’: ‘Partition’ changed Delhi forever, in terms of population, ethnic make-up, social and economic activity, and basic geographical layout. With reference to planning documents, we will examine how the neighborhoods for the refugees from Pakistan were created, then move on to other Master-Plan ideals like the obsession with creating ‘the city beautiful’ by removing everything considered unavoidable nuisances, such as: the informal settlements of the poor, older commercial activities, and older industries. We will also examine the growth of gated enclaves, whereby Delhi’s elite manages to fence off and gate public thoroughfares to create protected, guarded enclaves. This elite has, of late, also banded together in increasingly more powerful ‘resident-welfare associations’ or neighborhood organizations that can influence the city government in its policy towards slums and commercial establishments in the ‘colony’ or residential neighborhood. The third area that will be examined will be Delhi’s complex ethnic identity through its major religious and regional communities and their opinions and stereotypes about themselves and each other.
A short movie, ‘The House on Gulmohur Avenue’ (made by Sameena Mishra), and a suggested trip to a
successfully ‘mixed’ older middle-class neighborhood like Karol Bagh will supplement this third focus.
[Readings: Kacker 2005, ‘The DDA and the Idea of Delhi’, in Khosla ed., the idea of DELHI, pp. 68-77; Menon 2000, ‘The Contemporary Architecture of Delhi: The Role of the State as Middleman’, in Dupont et al ed., DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 143-156; Kohli 2001, ‘The Creation of a Planned City’, in Singh et al ed., The Millenium Book on New Delhi, pp. 67-94; Nair 2001, ‘City of Walls, City of Gates’, in Singh ed. City Improbable, pp. 265-286.]
Week 12: The Many Modern Delhis, Part II: Delhi’s Poor: The city’s policy of violent removal of the city’s poor and working classes will be examined, with reference to the Master Plan. The process of the eviction and partial resettlement of the city’s poor will be studied and discussed. The complications created by the different levels of government operating simultaneously in Delhi (Central or Federal, State and Municipal or City-level) will be discussed.
Field trips: A visit to an evicted slum location, and another visit to a resettlement site on the city’s outskirts that will be reached by way of a trip on the ultramodern metro railway. There will be a visit to the Salaam Balak trust for street children, and a guest speaker on legislation that victimizes those identified as ‘beggars’.
[Readings: Tarlo 1999, ‘Welcome to History: A Resettlement Colony in the Making’, in Dupont et al ed.,
DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 51-75; Soni 1999, ‘Urban Conquest of Outer Delhi: Beneficiaries, Intermediaries and Victims, in Dupont et al ed., DELHI Urban Space and Human Destinies, pp. 75-94; Batra 2006 in Ahuja and Brosius ed., Mumbai – Delhi - Kolkata. Approaches to metropolitan cities in India, pp. 173-190; Tully 2001, ‘The Travails of a Metropolis’, in Singh et al ed., The Millenium Book on New Delhi, pp. 165-188.]
Week 13: The Many Modern Delhis, Part II: Religion as Theme-Park: Nothing much survives of the ancient Hindu temples in the Delhi area, except as architectural fragments incorporated into other, newer, structures, but this gap has – perhaps – been filled by some ultra-modern temples that include, among other things, animated displays and dioramas. Some new temples, like the Akshardham temple along the highway through East Delhi, are the products of enormous political power.
Field trip: A visit to the Akshardham temple.
PRE-FINAL REVIEW
Week 14: Short presentations of individual project reports will be made, as a basis for a discussion and review of the material covered by the course.
Week 15: FINAL EXAM
Week 16: A review of the individual maps and portfolios created by each student will be conducted, and a discussion on how they differ or are similar will serve to wrap up the course.
Kumar, Sunil. The Present in Delhi’s Pasts. New Delhi: Three Essays Press, 2002.
Spear, Percival. Delhi: Its Monuments and History. Updated and annotated by Narayani Gupta and Laura
Sykes. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.
A reader composed of the extracts listed under each week’s topic above. A complete list of all the sources for the reader follows:
Ahuja, Ravi and Christiane Brosius ed. (2006) Mumbai – Delhi - Kolkata. Approaches to metropolitan cities in India, Draupadi Verlag Heidelberg (This book is in German; English translations of the two selected chapters will be included in the reader.)
Amin, Shahid. “Past Remains.” Conversations, vol. 3 no. 2, Summer 2003.
Chaudhuri, D.N. Light, Shades, Shadows. New Delhi: Niyogi Offset, 2005.
Dalrymple, William. City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi. London: Flamingo, 1993.
Dupont, Veronique, Emma Tarlo, and Denis Vidal. Delhi: Urban Space and Human Destinies. New Delhi: Manohar, 2000.
Frykenberg, R.E., ed. Delhi Through the Ages: Selected Essays in Urban History, Culture, and Society. New Delhi: OUP, 1993.
Gupta, Narayani. Delhi Between Two Empires, 1803-1931. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.
Hearn, Gordon Risley. The Seven Cities of Delhi. New Delhi: Aryan Books, 1906/2005.
Irving, R.G. Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker, and the Making of Imperial Delhi. Yale University Press, 1981.
Kaul, H.K. Historic Delhi: An Anthology. New Delhi: OUP, 1999.
Khosla, Romi ed. The Idea of DELHI. Mumbai: Marg, 2005.
Miles, Malcolm, Tim Hall, and Iain Borden. The City Cultures Reader. London: Routledge Urban Readers Series, 2004.
Peck, Lucy. Delhi: A thousand years of building. New Delhi: Roli Books.
Sarai Reader 02: The Cities of Everyday Life. New Delhi: Sarai: The New Media Initiative, 2002.
Singh, B.P. and Pavan K. Varma, eds. The Millennium Book on New Delhi. New Delhi: OUP, 2001.
Singh, Khushwant, ed. City Improbable: Writings on Delhi. New Delhi: Penguin, 2004.
Singh, Upinder. Ancient Delhi. New Delhi, 1999.
Tarlo, Emma. Unsettling Memories: Narratives of India’s Emergency. New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2003.
Varma, Pavan K. Ghalib the Man, the Times. New Delhi: Penguin, 1999.
Archaeological Survey of India. Delhi and its Neighborhood. New Delhi: ASI, 1990.
Barton, Gaynor and Laurraine Malone. Old Delhi: 10 Easy Walks. New Delhi: Rupa, 1997.
Centre for Civil Society. State of Governance Delhi Citizen Handbook 2006. New Delhi: Centre for Civil Society, 2006.
Festing, Gabrielle. When Kings Rode to Delhi. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1912/1997.
Goel, Vijay. Delhi: The Emperor’s City. New Delhi: Roli Books, 2003.
Rahman, S.A. ed. The Beautiful India: Delhi. New Delhi: Reference Press, 2005.
Sinha, Ranjit. Lalkot to Lodi Gardens: Delhi of Sultans. New Delhi: Rupa, 1996.
Smith, R.V. The Delhi that No-one Knows. New Delhi: Chronicle Books, 2005.
Spear, Percival, Narayani Gupta, and R.E. Frykenberg. The Delhi Omnibus. New Delhi: OUP.