Venue : Le France, 190 avenue de France 75013 Paris, room 638

A conference organized by the CEIAS thematic workshops "Emopolis - Emotions And Political Mobilizations In The Indian Subcontinent" & "Mobilités”

Discutante : Aurélie Varrel (CEIAS/CNRS)

This presentation draws from my research on Anglo-Indian and Chinese communities of Calcutta that focuses on issues of identity and belonging. It will analyse three sites in Calcutta- Bow Barracks, an Anglo-Chinese neighborhood; and the city’s two Chinatowns- that have been the focus of community-led heritage conservation efforts in recent times. Building on wider research on the ‘rhetorics of nostalgia’ (Della Dora, 2006), and notions of ‘productive nostalgia’ (Blunt, 2005) on urban landscapes, it will explore nostalgia as an emotion and the ways in which it helps shape heritage politics in the city. An exploration of these sites not only reveals a complex connection between idea of home, nostalgia and the politics of community identity, but also throws light on the importance of emotions in studying intersections of diaspora and the city.

Contact: amelie.blomkhan@gmail.com