Resettlement Ecologies: Environmental Subjectivity and Graduated Citizenship in Mumbai

Doshi, Sapana

doi:10.5790/hongkong/9789888139767.003.0009

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Doshi () further develops this trajectory as she asks questions that begin with social exclusion and difference, an approach that frees her from the limitations of only investigating socioenvironmental issues from a nonhuman (i.e., ecological) starting point. This is important because there are now several familiar ecological and environmental subjects that have received sustained attention: water, wastewater, sewage, climate, sustainability, parks, green space, trees, gardens, agriculture, food, ecosystem services, waste, and green redevelopment.…”

Section: Expanded Upe (2): a Diversity Of Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obstinate curiosity and situated solidarity in urban political ecology

2020

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Over the past two decades, the field of urban political ecology (UPE) has developed into a robust theoretical framework for understanding the production of uneven socionatures. More recently, expanded theoretical and empirical innovations in UPE research are pushing the framework's radical roots into new and productive directions for addressing (not just critiquing) persistent inequalities and marginalizations in and beyond cities. We trace this trajectory of UPE towards its more transformative potential and argue that UPE's relevance will increase as scholars continue to embrace the power of what Povinelli calls "obstinate curiosity" to give rise to unexpected connections between people and ecologies. Specifically, we call for continued diversification of both theoretical and methodological starting points for UPE research, particularly with respect to the ways that scholars practice situated solidarity movements for social and environmental justice in cities. K E Y W O R D Sliberatory praxis, scholar-activism, social justice, urban political ecology, urban theory

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Section: Expanded Upe (2): a Diversity Of Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obstinate curiosity and situated solidarity in urban political ecology

2020

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“…The MRDPA's river widening plan was used to justify a large demolition drive in early 2006, when the Bombay High Court ordered the removal of 3,600 ‘illegal structures’ (but not the ‘permanent’ ones) built within 30 meters of the river (Faleiro, ; Doshi, ). Yet according to ethnographer Sapana Doshi, who was conducting research on these evictions at the time, the evicted residents were slated to be rehabilitated ‘in an area zoned for no‐development and coastal regulation because of its location on ecologically sensitive marshland’, thus revealing that the government's motivations were more anti‐poor than ecological (Doshi, : 238). By June 2006, an estimated 4,055 homes had been demolished in the name of the Mithi cleanup (Faleiro, ).…”

Section: ‘Unplanned Development’ In Kolkata and Mumbaimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Critical studies of climate disasters, including analyses of ‘everyday political ecologies’, are certainly emerging (see e.g. Aggarwal, ; Doshi, ; Ranganathan, ; Arabindoo, ; Cornea et al , ), but most studies of urban coastal flooding remain focused on the domain of urban planning and avoid critical inquiries into power and politics. Their resulting recommendations, which are then put into practice by local planners and the consultants hired to draft climate action plans, overlook the threats of environmentally destructive development practices and continue to promote sustainable development models that emphasize the co‐benefits of growth.…”

Section: Resilient Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilient Growth: Fantasy Plans and Unplanned Developments in India's Flood‐Prone Coastal Cities

Weinstein¹,

Rumbach²,

Sinha³

2019

Int J Urban Regional Res

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Academic and policy literatures on urban climate resilience tend to emphasize ‘good planning’ as the primary means for addressing the growing risk of flooding in Asia's coastal megacities. Cities have come to rely on disaster and climate resilience plans to future‐proof their landscapes and protect vulnerable populations. Yet while data is collected, models are built and plans are drafted, environmentally destructive development practices continue unabated and often unchallenged. This article examines and seeks to explain the contradictions between a growing awareness of the risks of climate‐induced flooding in resilience plans and the continuation of development practices widely acknowledged to exacerbate those risks. It analyzes these contradictions in the context of Mumbai and Kolkata, India's largest coastal cities, which are facing the severest threats from climate‐induced flooding. Based on analyses of key resilience planning documents and both planned and unplanned developments in some of Mumbai's and Kolkata's most ecologically sensitive areas, our analysis reveals that resilience planning, promoted by the central government and international consultants, and presented in locally produced ‘fantasy plans’, fails to address the risks of climate‐change‐related flooding owing to tendencies to sidestep questions of politics, power and the distributional conflicts that shape urban development. We conclude that efforts to reduce urban flood risk would benefit from the research, methods and analytic concepts used to critically study cities, but significant gaps remain between these fields.

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“…In a macabre political ecology, Mandala homes were burned and demolished, and debris from the Mithi River basin was transplanted across the city to the Mandala site in truckloads to both “clean up” the river and to solidify land for a commercial resettlement center. Resettlement was thwarted by Mithi River occupants who were ultimately able to negotiate to remain on‐site at the river or to relocate to a closer, more desirable site (Doshi forthcoming; Faleiro 2006). Mandala evictees have continued negotiations with officials to re‐occupy their land since the second eviction.…”

Section: Frontier Enclosures: Eviction and Citizenship Struggles In Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of the Evicted: Redevelopment, Subjectivity, and Difference in Mumbai's Slum Frontier

2012

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In recent years cities around the world have undergone mass slum clearances for redevelopment. This study of Mumbai offers an alternative interpretation of urban capital accumulation by investigating the differentiated political subjectivities of displaced slum residents. I argue that Mumbai's redevelopment entails not uniform class-based dispossessions but a process of accumulation by differentiated displacement whereby uneven displacement politics are central to the social production of land markets. Two ethnographic cases reveal that groups negotiate redevelopment in contradictory ways, supporting or contesting projects in varying moments. Redevelopmental subjectivities are influenced at key conjunctures by market-oriented resettlement, ideologies of belonging, desires for improved housing, and participation in non-governmental groups. This articulated assemblage of power-laden practices reflects and reworks class, gender, and ethno-religious relations, profoundly shaping evictees' experience and political engagement. The paper concludes that focusing on differentiated subjectivities may usefully guide both analysis and social justice practice aimed at countering dispossession.

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Resettlement Ecologies: Environmental Subjectivity and Graduated Citizenship in Mumbai

Cited by 24 publications

References 18 publications

Obstinate curiosity and situated solidarity in urban political ecology

Obstinate curiosity and situated solidarity in urban political ecology

Resilient Growth: Fantasy Plans and Unplanned Developments in India's Flood‐Prone Coastal Cities

The Politics of the Evicted: Redevelopment, Subjectivity, and Difference in Mumbai's Slum Frontier

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