Title: Claims on the City: Situated Narratives of the Urban – A book sharing session
Speakers:
Yamini Krishna (Communication Studies, Flame university)
Amy Phua (Department of Anthropology, CUHK)
Elvin Xing Yifu (Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore)
Dikshya Karki (Department of Media and Communication, Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University)
Date: Friday, 16 February 2024
Time: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Mode: In-person
Venue: Room 213, Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK
Abstract:
The global catastrophe that unfolded during Covid-19, along with repeated failures of the capitalist order, ruptures in social structures force us to rethink our existing understanding of the cities. The on-going crises and the resentment against the power elite has resulted in mass movements of citizens, farmers, students, artists, and workers, who have flooded the streets, blocked highways, and staged huge demonstrations. The book documents microhistories, on-ground movements, and solidarities against the mechanisms of the state and global capitalism, sidestepping the global North- South divide. The book studies the urban through methods grounded in humanities. It foregrounds the identity struggles, by privileging the voices and narratives glossed over and written out of dominant histories but preserved in cultural memories and everyday material practices of communities.
Dikshya Karki discusses the lived city, its interruptions and disruptions to the seamless imaginary of cinematic Kathmandu. Amy Phua discusses dargahs of Hyderabad at the intersection of spirituality and contemporary politics. Elvin Xing discusses the claims of Adivasi youth on the city of Hyderabad, and maps their emotional geography of aspirations and belonging. C. Yamini Krishna discusses how Hyderabadi diaspora become custodians of the past through creating an affective imaginary of the city online.
Bio:
Yamini Krishna works on film history, urban history, and Deccan history. She has received her Ph.D. from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. Her work has been published in Urban History, Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, South Asia, South Asian Popular Culture. She is currently Assistant Professor, Literary and Cultural Studies at FLAME University, Pune.
Amy Mei Yen Phua is a doctoral candidate at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her areas of interest are Urban Anthropology, Religion, and Nationalism in the region of South Asia. Her PhD project is on the Sufi institution and community in the city of Hyderabad, India, and how their presence has been a significant force socially and politically within the urban context.
Elvin Xing Yifu is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore. His doctoral research was based on an ethnographic study of the Koyas, a tribal community located in the region of Telangana, India. Through conducting ethnographic fieldwork with the Koyas, he has illustrated how Koya identity is an arena of polyphonic voices where multiple articulations, contestations, and claims are constantly enacted. Currently, his research is on broader issues of identity, urban anthropology and policies pertaining to integration in Singapore.
Dikshya Karki is a media anthropologist with a doctorate in Visual and Media Anthropology from Heidelberg University, Germany. She has worked as a researcher on various heritage projects in the Kathmandu Valley. Karki has also taught at the Department of Languages and Mass communication, Kathmandu University. Her research and teaching interests include film, media, and popular culture in South Asia. She is currently Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Communication, Xi’an Jiaotong- Liverpool University.