Full Description
By examining the everyday geographies of ethnic identity, place-making and cultural landscape transformations, as well as tracing the root of the Chinese community's origin through cartographic and archival records, this book depicts multi-cultural landscape formation in Kolkata (Calcutta). The authors capture how Kolkata's vibrant Chinese community has uniquely shaped the 'twin Chinatowns' amidst the city's diverse urban tapestry and gradually modified the adjacent cultural landscape towards a 'little China'. As these neighbourhoods encounter modern challenges of gentrification and global connectivity, the book explores the ways in which the community, particularly its youth, navigates the complexities of maintaining a transnational identity while being deeply rooted in the local cultural milieu. From the continuous ebb and flow of migration to the fostering of hybrid identities, this analysis examines how these transformations impact community cohesion and cultural heritage.
Featuring poignant individual case studies from Indian-Chinese respondents, the book examines issues such as identity, preservation efforts and the effects of socio-economic changes. Research techniques like adopting visual ethnographic 'streetscape' and cognitive 'emotional' cartography depict the everyday geography of the 'twin Chinatowns', illustrating how these communities claim their spaces and build connections on a global scale. Kunaljeet Roy and Sukla Basu reconnect with the essence of Kolkata's Chinese community and showcase how they navigate the challenges of a globalised world while holding onto the threads of heritage that define them as a 'Chinese Calcuttawallah'.
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Glossary
Acknowledgements
Prologue
1. Introduction: The 'Grey Town' of Apartheid Calcutta and the Chinese Footprints
2. Trajectories of Chinese Overseas and the Origin of Calcutta's Chinatown
3. Landscapes of Chinese Ethnic Economy of Calcutta/ Kolkata
4. The Everyday Geography of Cheenapara: The Old Chinatown
5. The Everyday Geography of Tangra: The New Chinatown
6. The Indian-Chinese Diaspora: From Traditional to Hybrid Identity Formation
7. The Chinese Calcuttawallah: Making of a Micro-diaspora Identity
References
Index
