[Reader-list] Dilip D'Souza, first posting

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

Dear Aditi,

Thank you for responding to this conversation. As I had mentioned in my
email, I had cursorily ran through Dilip D'souza's proposal and therefore
my apologies for making assumptions.

Thanks also for bringing forward the 'definitions' of humanity. I
definitely have a narrow conception of humanity and it emerges from an
image. From what I understand now of Dilip D'souza's proposal, he will
invariably be mapping transformations of the city (and I stand to be
corrected here if I have misinterpreted his proposal) through his essays
on people's interactions and practices in the village pockets. And what
will be interesting to see is what of the interactions of the people of
the villages influences/sustains/nourishes/enriches the present everyday
life in the city.

>From my own experiences, one aspect of mapping transformations is through
conversations with people and in that sense, one gets the 'humanity'
aspect. What I however find most critical is to watch how networks get
transformed and what happens to the city in the context of the larger
political economy (of which culture is an important aspect), something
which Dilip's works will bring out when he refers to liberalization,
secularism, etc.

>From the last one and a half years of investigation (literally), I find
that my position against the global city is that it is not a sustainable
system. It causes gentrification, has severe ecological implications, and
public policies and civil society initiatives sometimes perpetuate the
very violence and systems which we want to change (or at least I want to
change). For instance, in a recent presentation by Mukesh Mehta where he
presented his plan for transforming Dharavi and rehabilitating the slum
dwellers in Dharavi (as part of the global city dream), one member of the
audience pointed out that Mukesh Mehta was not doing anything different
from the present SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority) policy. Through using
FSI in-situ, Mehta was simply promoting more density. In a later
discussion with the same person who made the comment, he mentioned clearly
that one of the solutions is to give the land free to the slum dwellers
and enable them to build their own houses there, through their own labour,
and allow them to pay for the houses through rent-free installments while
the state pays the subsidy for interests. While he made this comment, it
dawned on me that this could be a decent solution because there is no TDR
game. But, the political machinery through the press has created a
brilliant campaign against the slum dwellers through raising the argument
of 'public land' and 'entitlements of citizens' and this campaign allows
the political machinery to continue with the regulatory system of FSI and
TDR along with the builders!

Similarly, projects like Khotachiwadi illustrate the dangers of alluding
to village life (and humanity there). Invariably we make specimens of the
'culture' and of the 'people of that culture'. In some public forums where
I have heard residents of Khotachiwadi speak, they speak of themselves and
their 'lifestyles' as 'unique' and make their case of that of privelged
peoples. Therefore, I question intervention and consciousness of
interventions and their consequences on people's lives and their
environments.

In the local trains of Mumbai also, one comes across numerous examples of
'humanity' with people helping each other, supporting each other, finding
respite and comfort in each other's company through train groups or
incidents which take place in the compartments and these definitely give a
lot of hope. But is humanity all that there is to the local trains?Down
the line, I am trying to think in terms of everyday practices of locality
and systems in the local trains. What need does a train group fulfill? Why
do people form groups in trains? One refers to cosmopolitanism of Mumbai
through its local trains but does that cosmopolitanism penetrate deeper
into people's mentalities when it comes to prejudices against Muslims and
Hindus? Are there public spaces like the local train which can facilitate
interactions between people and enable new experiences and deeper
interactions? Can there be designs of such public spaces and are these
designs 'contextual/local' or 'global'?

As a researcher, I find it important to be conscious of the fact that
instead of alluding only to humanity (which I understand as conditions of
human beings), it is useful to think in terms of system.

I will admit that my own position comes from the question of where is
research directed towards? Is it research for research's sake? - sure, and
there is nothing wrong in that. But for me, the process of research is a
deeper understanding of society and looking at what changes in systems can
bring about paradigm shifts. In that sense, I am candidly a
researcher-cum-wanting to bring about change in the world being.

Dilip, I would apologize for two things: one, if I was too harsh, though
that was not my intention and secondly, if I am projecting myself and my
ideas on your proposal (which I am certain you will not allow me to as a
matter of freedom and democracy!!!)

Continuing conversations,
Warmly,
Zainab


> I don't agree with you at all Zainab on this. I think your understanding
> and
> definition of humanity is extremely narrow and I would argue, incorrect,
> in
> this context. The dictionary definition of humanity (and I quote from the
> Websters dictionary)
>
> 1. the quality or state of being
> humane<http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/humane>
> *2 a* *:* the quality or state of being
> human<http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/human>
> *b* *plural* *:* human <http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/human> attributes or
> qualities <his work has the ripeness of the 18th century, and its rough *
> humanities* -- Pamela H. Johnson>
> *3* *plural* *:* the branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or
> languages) that investigate human
> <http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/human>constructs and concerns as
> opposed to natural processes (as in physics or
> chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics)
>
> Being human or humane (even if you include both these in the context of
> Dilip's work) is neither romantic or teary-eyed. After all humanism, even
> though there are several critiques of it now which I agree with you, was
> one
> of the tenets of Renaissance Europe as also modern western civilization.
> Here, humanism refers to not merely the shift to a more secular world
> vision, but also the inclusion of modern science/scientific methods,
> technology, ancient wisdom (in the form of Greek and Latin texts), but
> above
> of all of accessibility -
> which is why a number of these texts were translated into the local
> languages in several parts of Europe.
>
> Even if you understand Dilip's definition of humanity as the focus on
> being
> humane, I would argue this is not romantic. In fact if you read his
> proposed
> research carefully,  you will see that he wishes to juxtapose these
> against
> the values of secularism, liberalization etc.
>
> I have a huge issue with this kind of value judgement, without
> understanding
> the social, historical or political context of someon'e work.
>
> In fact, if you come to the matter of subjectivity, I think you will find
> a
> lot of material on anthropological research that talks of the involvement
> of
> the researcher with his subject and this is definitely not teary -eyed. I
> suspect that subjectivity is very much present in your work.
>
>
>
> On 1/21/06, zainab at xtdnet.nl <zainab at xtdnet.nl> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Dilip,
>>
>> I cursorily ran through your idea of the fellowship project. Just a
>> quick
>> comment. I am not exactly sure at this point where you will be getting
>> to/at through the process and period of six months, but an important
>> things to think through is not just the humanity aspect of the city, but
>> aspects of local relationships, systems and practices which are being
>> transformed in the making of the global city - what are these local
>> relationships? why are they important that is if they are at all? what
>> happens in the making of the global city?
>>
>> Focussing exclusively on the humanity aspect makes things very
>> mushy-mushy, romantic and teary eyed which is something that I
>> consciously
>> avoid in my methodology and processes of research.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Zainab
>>
>>
>>
>> > Jan 20 2006
>> >
>> > Good day to all! My name is Dilip D'Souza. I'm a once-computer
>> > scientist, now-writer, in Bombay. I'm honoured and delighted to be
>> > part of this eclectic group of people, humbled by the range of things
>> > all of you are attempting. I'm appending below a summary of what I
>> > want to do with this fellowship. Any comments/help/critiques welcome.
>> >
>> > cheers,
>> > dilip d'souza.
>> >
>> > Death Ends Fun: http://dcubed.blogspot.com
>> > ---
>> >
>> > Village in the City: Bombay in microcosm
>> >
>> > Bombay, the big city, and everywhere else seems rustic. That's the way
>> > I invariably feel whenever I return home to Bombay after a trip
>> > somewhere in the country. And yet the oldest truth about Bombay is
>> > that it, too, was once a collection of villages. What's more, there
>> > are ways in which the big city has not lost that character. Or let's
>> > say this: in this big city, you can still find traces of that
>> > character.
>> >
>> > There are parts of Bombay that are still essentially villages. In my
>> > suburb of Bandra alone, lanes narrow to warrens, houses look over low
>> > walls into each other, you can even see ducks being raised. Ranwar,
>> > Chimbai, Sherly, Pali Malla, these are the old villages of the Queen
>> > of Bombay's suburbs. And there is also Khotachiwadi in Girgaum, still
>> > held up as a model of urban living; also parts of Agripada, CP Tank,
>> > Kalbadevi and more.
>> >
>> > Yet there's another theme I'm trying to get at here. This lies in the
>> > way people deal with each other in these neighbourhoods, the humanity
>> > that large cities make us pessimistic about finding.
>> >
>> > For example, in CP Tank I once saw first- and higher-floor residents
>> > lowering baskets on ropes to the pavement, to buy vegetables from
>> > cooperative vendors. Seems to me a small indicator of a different
>> > time, a different place, a different pace. More and more city
>> > residents go to large  supermarkets for their supplies, or pick up the
>> > phone and get their vegetables delivered in minutes. Yet in Bombay's
>> > congested heartland, some housewives use baskets on ropes.
>> >
>> > Bits of humanity intrigue and appeal to me, not least because I fear
>> > they are vanishing as even these little spaces in the city get torn
>> > down and built over. So my plan is simple: go hunting for them and
>> > tell those stories. I want to document not just the physical reality
>> > of these villages in Bombay, but the little signs in them that speak
>> > of a possibly disappearing, or at least forgotten, humanity. My
>> > interest is also in the larger lessons: what do these daily
>> > interactions say about life in a city? Or about the great conundrums
>> > of modern India: secularism, liberalization, poverty?
>> >
>> > I want to emphasize that I don't see this project as a paean to the
>> > past, nor as a mournful ode to a nearly-vanished history. I'm
>> > interested in making the case that life in a city is an experience
>> > made of these small interstices. That these may have been villages,
>> > but they are the foundation of great metropolises. Very simply, I
>> > would like my essays to get my readers thinking about the people who
>> > make up a city. Not the buildings or parks or flyovers, but the
>> > people.
>> > _________________________________________
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>> >
>>
>>
>> Zainab Bawa
>> Bombay
>> www.xanga.com/CityBytes
>> http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html
>>
>> _________________________________________
>> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>> Critiques & Collaborations
>> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
>> subscribe in the subject header.
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Aditi Thorat
> Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister
> Government of Rajasthan
> 0141-5116629 (Tele/Fax)
>


Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes
http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html