The Urban Nexus: Flows of Population, Commerce and Culture among Cities in Western India

Abstract

Anthropologists Have Often viewed the city either as an isolate or merely as a backdrop for ethnographic research. A perspective analyzing urban centers instead as reservoirs and channels for larger flows of people, resources and culture helps to overcome limitations associated with conventional approaches. An analysis of three major western Indian cities, viewing them as spaces of flows, sheds new light on their role in the development of the world system from the 15th century to the present. [Indian cities, world systems, capitalistic development, urban flows]