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Book Discussion

The HSRG talks series for monsoon 2023 hosted its eighth and final talk, a book discussion, on 1 November at the KRB Auditorium. The book in focus was Mumbai / Bombay: Majoritarian Neoliberalism, Informality, Resistance, and Wellbeing, edited by Dr. D Parthasarathy, Dr. Sujata Patel, and Dr. Georges Jose. The co-editors of the book were present for the discussion, which was conducted in a hybrid mode, with both online and offline participation. 

Their discussion about the book traced the various ways through which majoritarianism, and neoliberal capitalist accumulation has reorganised Bombay or Mumbai in India. Together they assessed Mumbai’s present trajectories and processes as being embedded in its recent past. They also looked at these changes by exploring work and labour; health and education; spatial planning and infrastructural development; politics and identity; and showed how financialization, land speculation, deregulation, and informality have impacted the city’s culture and everyday living. The discussion was moderated and responded to by Radhika Krishnan. 

The discussion and the question-and-answer session that followed was lively and engaging, with the speakers highlighting the main themes and arguments of the book, and the audience raising pertinent questions and comments on the book’s relevance and implications for understanding and transforming Mumbai and other Indian cities. 

 

Dr. Sujata Patel is Kerstin Hesselgren Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, Umea University, Sweden (2021–2022). She has been Distinguished Professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University; National Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, and a teacher of sociology at the Universities of Hyderabad, Pune, and SNDT Women’s University. Dr. D Parthasarathy is Professor of Sociology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India. Dr. George Jose is Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE. He researches metropolitan transformation in and of contemporary South Asia.

December 2023