Heritage, Crafting Communities and Urban Transformation by Chakrabarti, Debapriya;

Short description:

This book emphasises the need to empower marginalised communities to contribute to decision-making processes within policy realms.

Long description:

This book emphasises the need to empower marginalised communities to contribute to decision-making processes within policy realms. It contributes to ongoing debates in the social sciences about infrastructure rights and citizenship, and it throws insight on human–infrastructure interactions in the informal neighbourhoods of the global South.

The book delves into the complexities of caste, gender, class, and political identities and affiliations associated with the multiple factors of inclusion and exclusion particularly in the case of access to infrastructure in informal settlements in urban areas with an added productive function. This book is about how this historic inner-city, situated, religious idol-crafting community is transforming due to factors including access to physical and social infrastructure, local governance policies, sociopolitical hierarchies, and complexities of informal tenure. Drawing on sociocultural norms, and values of idol-crafting practices, it documents, analyses, and presents the networks and relations of the neighbourhood through a spatial and material lens. Findings contribute to understanding how traditional practices of a crafting community are adapting, appropriating, producing, and reshaping informal spaces in Kumartuli.

The book is aimed at academic audiences across the world researching creative industries, Kolkata’s regeneration agenda, and cultural tourism. It will be of interest to the wide disciplines of Urban Studies, Development Studies, Architecture and Planning, and Culture and Tourism Studies.

Table of Contents:

Lists Of FiguresList Of TablesPrefaceAcknowledgement Chapter 1 Durga Puja, Kumartuli and KolkataFestival, religion, culture, and politicsColonial Calcutta’s Durga PujaBarowari brought inclusivityCultural heritage, informality, and idol-crafting practiceStructure of the bookChapter 2 Crafts and Practitioners                        Idol crafting practice and sustainability                        Kumbhakar caste relates to pottery                        The Caste-based potters’ para                        Interwoven communities of practice                        Emerging actors and shiftsChapter 3 The spaces of production                        The neighbourhood                        Streetscapes, alleys, riverfront                        The conventional workshop-residence                        The ‘factory-shed’ workshopChapter 4 Seasonal adaptations and everyday negotiation                        The preparation phase                        Adaptation, accommodations, and negotiationsInfrastructural disrepair and hopelessnessSocial cohesion, coordination, and competitionWill Kumartuli continue to thrive?Chapter 5 Complexities                        The redevelopment plan                        Reaction and resistance to the KMDA plan                        Tenure and ownership: realities                        Informality in the heritageChapter 6 The emerging and diverging spaces of production                        Kumartuli on a regular day                        Changing spaces: Repurposed workshop                        Agency and new typologies                        Appropriation and socio-spatial relations                        Spatial flexibility and reparation in a Kolkata bastiChapter 7 Kumartuli’s future?                        Kumartuli’s present                        Reparations and public services                        Contributions and implications of this research                        Recommendations                        Personal reflectionMethodological Appendix: Research Strategies                        Practice Theory research method                        FieldworkGlossary of Bengali wordsIndex