डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्वविद्यालय दिल्ली 
| Course Type | Course Code | No. Of Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Discipline Core | NSGA1MDC305 | 4 |
Course coordinator and team: Dr. Sunalini Kumar and Prof. Amit Kumar Mishra
Course Details:
a. Summary
“Ik roz apni rooh se poocha, ki dilli kya hai,
to yun jawab main keh gaye, yeh duniya mano jism hai aur dilli uski jaan.”
(I asked my soul, ‘What is Delhi?’
It replied: ‘The world is the body and Delhi its soul”) Said Ghalib, the legendary 19th Century Urdu poet.
Delhi, with its very long and continuous urban traditions, has been a seat of power for over a millennium in Indian history; and occupation of this town was often considered to be an essential prerequisite to control the mainland of India. Delhi has been at the heart of India’s body politic and socio-cultural ethos for over a millennium and continues to chart the country's future. Razed and rebuilt many times over, this quintessential capital presents an intriguing case of spatial-cultural-economic metamorphosis. While Old Delhi brims with its heritage of busy bazaars, forts, temples and mosques, Lutyens’s New Delhi exudes majesty with its broad and green avenues, imposing government buildings, stately bungalows and landscaped gardens. Often, the timelines warp and the past jostles with the present in this city.
By presenting a long history of Delhi, this course attempts to explore the nature of spatial processes in Delhi highlighting the type of power relations that existed between the various social classes, status groups, intermediaries and the ruling elites. It also attempts to look into the ways and means by which the memories of the past have been appropriated and often linked with contemporary events in the city during political reorientations. .
b. Objectives
• To introduce students to certain fundamental themes, concepts and debates in historical geography and the logic of spatial processes to explain the complexities and nuanced power dynamics of the social-spatial order.
• To provide insights into the political dynamics of different historical periods including governance structures, urban processes, power struggles, and social cultural realm.
• To gain a deeper understanding of how multiple cultural traditions interacted and influenced each other, leading to the vibrant cultural mosaic that defines Delhi today.
• To encourage students towards critical engagement with diverse source material and learning methods and gain skills in analysis and articulation.
c. Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course students are expected to have
- A clearer understanding of nuanced interconnections of social-spatial order and larger political processes
- Better understanding of the evolution of a composite culture and civilisational aspects of the time and space.
- Ability to use interdisciplinary methods and tools for understanding complex, multilayered historical processes
d. Overall structure:
This course is divided into the following 7 units:
|
Unit |
Details |
Duration |
|
1 |
Unit 1 Multiple Delhi(s) - Popular cultures, literature and representation |
1 week |
|
2 |
Unit 2 Early Delhi: Indraprastha to Dhilli |
1 week |
|
3 |
Unit 3 Rise to Prominence and Glory - Sultanate Delhi to the Mughals |
3 weeks |
|
4 |
Unit 4 Twilight: Loss, Ghadar |
1 Week |
|
5 |
Unit 5 Return of Glory: Imperial Capital |
2 Weeks |
|
6 |
Unit 6 Disruption: Partition, Refugees, |
2 Weeks |
|
7 |
Unit 7 Rehabilitation, Rebuilding (Master Plan) |
2 Weeks |
Required
Carla R. Petievich, Poetry of the Declining Mughals: the "Shahr Ashob" Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. 25, No. 1, The City in South And Southeast Asian Literature (Winter, Spring 1990), pp. 99-110 (12 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/40873115
Khan, Pasha M. ”On The Lament for Delhi, Genre, Literature, and History” (unpublished paper, McGill University, 2015). https://doi.org/10.17613/1mfk-y513
Batabyal, S. 2010. “New Delhi's Times: Creating a Myth for a City.” In Finding Delhi: Loss and Renewal in a Megacity, edited by Bharati Chaturvedi, New Delhi: Penguin.
Liddle, Swapna, The Idea of Delhi, (article) Summerhill: IIAS Review
S.C. Mishra, Manisha Agnihotri, The 'Dilli-Killi' Legend of "Prthviraja Raso" and The Nomenclature Of (Ancient) Delhi Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 71 (2010-2011), pp. 179-191
Upinder Singh, Ancient Delhi (select chapters)
Sunil Kumar, Courts, Capitals and Kingship Delhi and its Sultans in The Thirteenth And Fourteenth Centuries in Albrecht Fuess and Jan-Peter Hartung eds. Court Cultures in the Muslim World
Tughluqabad, the Earliest Surviving Town of the Delhi Sultanate Mehrdad Shokoohy, Natalie H. Shokoohy Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 57, No. 3 (1994), pp. 516-550
Asher, Catherine B. (2000), ‘Delhi Walled: Changing Boundaries’ in James D.Tracy (ed.), City Walls: The Urban Enceinte in Global Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Aquil, R. (2008). Hazrat-I-Dehli: The Making of the Chishti Sufi Centre and the Stronghold of Islam. South Asia Research, 28(1), 23-48. https://doi.org/10.1177/026272800702800102
Lahiri, Nayanjot (2003) “Commemorating and Remembering 1857: The Revolt in Delhi and Its Afterlife” World Archaeology, Vol. 35, No. 1, The Social Commemoration of Warfare (Jun., 2003), pp. 35-60
Gupta, N. 1981 “Chapter 3: Portrait of a City (1858-1931)” in Delhi Between Two Empires: 1803-1931 – Society, Government and Urban Growth Delhi, Oxford University Press
Gupta, N. 1981 “Chapter 6: The Strains of Urban Expansion” in Delhi Between Two Empires: 1803-1931 – Society, Government and Urban Growth Delhi, Oxford University Press
Hosagrahar, J. 2001 ‘Mansions to Margins: Modernity and the Domestic Landscapes of Historic Delhi’, 1847-1910 Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 26-45
Johnson, D.A. 2008. ‘A British Empire for the twentieth century: the inauguration of New Delhi, 1931’ Urban History, Vol. 35, No. 3 (December 2008).
Legg. S. 2019. ‘Mohallas in Inter-War Delhi’ South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 42:1, 170-187, DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2019.1554472
Mehra, D. 2013. ‘Planning Delhi ca. 1936–1959’ South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 36(3), 354–374. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2013.829793
Sutton, D. 2020. 'Gordon Sanderson’s ‘Grand Programme’: Architecture, Bureaucracy and Race in the Making of New Delhi, 1910-1915', South Asian Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 72-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2020.1741246
Legg, S. 2019. A Pre-Partitioned City? Anti-Colonial and Communal Mohallas in Inter-War Delhi South Asia, Vol. 42 2009 (Issue 1) 170-187.
Bhardwaj Datta, A. 2019. ‘Genealogy of a Partition City: War, Migration and Urban Space in Delhi’, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2019.1557028
Geva, R. 2023. “Introduction” in Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India's Capital (South Asia in Motion) Stanford University Press.
Sutton, D. 2023. 'Masjids, Monuments and Refugees in the Partition City of Delhi, 1947-1959', Urban History, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 468-485. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926821001036
Pati, S. 2012. “A Nation Set in Stone”: Insight into the Politics of Statuary in Delhi (1950-65). Economic and Political Weekly, 47(30), 232–238. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23251775
Guerrieri, Pilar Maria 2018. “Two Conceptions of the City: Pre and Post Independence” in Negotiating Cultures: Delhi Architecture and Planning from 1912 to 1962. Oxford University Press.
Guerrieri, Pilar Maria “Urban Areas and Colonies: Signs of Indigenisation” in Negotiating Cultures (op cit.)
Bhan, G. 2013. “Planned Illegalities: Housing and the ‘Failure’ of Planning in Delhi: 1947-
2010.” Economic & Political Weekly XLVII (24): 58-70.
Maitra, S. 1991. “Housing in Delhi: DDA's Controversial Role.” Economic and Political
Weekly XXVI (7): 344-346.
Pedagogy:
a. Instructional design
The course will be transacted through a combination of lectures, Historical tour, thematic discussions and presentations.
b. Special needs (facilities, requirements in terms of software, studio, lab, clinic, library, classroom/others instructional space; any other – please specify)
None
c. Expertise in AUD faculty or outside
The core faculty has academic training in the field of transnational migration. Few guest lectures, from amongst the AUD faculty and/or scholars from outside the university, will also be organised.
d. Linkages with external agencies (e.g., with field-based organizations, hospital; any others)
None
Assessment structure (modes and frequency of assessments)
The course will have three assessments:
Field Visit and Report: 30%
Term Paper: 30%
End Semester: 40%