Caroline HerbertOwning the City : Urban Space and Citizenship in Recent Hindi Cinema
Jeudi, 16 octobre 2008, 12 h 00 à 13 h 00, UQAM, pavillon Judith-Jasmin, salle J-4255
Résumé : In the decades following India’s independence, Bombay was frequently projected in the popular imaginary – particularly by film – as an ideal of the nation’s postcolonial modernity. The city’s reputation for secular cosmopolitanism has, however, been brought to crisis by the rise of Hindu nationalism, and by uneven experiences of global capitalism. My paper examines the recent Hindi film, Taxi 9 2 11 (2006) to consider cultural responses to Bombay’s contemporary crisis, and the narratives of reconciliation they offer. I explore the connections Taxi makes between spatial and social crises, focussing on issues of access to housing and property in order to think through the relationship between space and citizenship in metropolitan India.
Avant de s’associer à Figura, Caroline Herbert détenait une Bourse du Commonwealth pour une recherche postdoctorale menée à l’Université Concordia. Ses travaux examinent les représentations de Bombay dans une variété d’ouvrages (fiction, films et « non-fiction ») et considèrent l’impact de la crise du laïcisme, de la montée du nationalisme hindou et de la libéralisation économique sur la ville et ses représentations. Elle a obtenu son doctorat en 2006 à l’Université de Leeds, au Royaume-Uni ; elle a publié des articles sur Salman Rushdie et Rohinton Mistry.
Before joining Figura, Caroline held a Canadian Commonwealth Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, at Concordia University. Her postdoctoral work explores the representation of Bombay in a range of fiction, film and non-fiction, and considers the impact of the crisis in secularism, rise of Hindu nationalism, and economic liberalization, on the city and its depiction. She gained her PhD in 2006 from the University of Leeds, has published articles on Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry.
