Land, Space, and Power

While in India, I want to research the relationship between land and systematic oppression. While reading John McLeod’s History of India, I found a recurring trend that land was frequently used as a means of subjugation, from the resettling of Tribals in Mughal-era India to tea plantations under British rule. This trend of power structures being especially demarcated by one’s physical space isn’t just an agricultural phenomenon, but even continues into the twenty-first century with the middle-to-upper class status symbol of having domestic servants and housekeepers. I am academically interested in how different groups use space, and through preliminary research, I found that India has a tight relationship between physical space, socioeconomic status, political influence, and even health.

Although this research topic is based around geographical divisions, I have found that this relationship between space and power is one that permeates Indian culture so deeply that I can, and would benefit from, studying this topic from a variety of cities and regions. Delhi, Varanasi, and Chennai all have illustrious histories and modern importance that my topic of choice will be relevant throughout India. Delhi, being one of the most notably polluted cities in the world, provides an interesting opportunity to explore the disproportionate effects of air pollutants amongst different neighborhoods and socioeconomic levels. Varanasi, although a much smaller city than Delhi, is positioned on the banks of the Ganges, which is a large source of water pollution. Poorer inhabitants of Delhi rely on the heavily polluted river as a source of water, which makes the sanitation of the Ganges a much more pressing issue than for wealthier residents who can afford a more sanitary water supply. This makes different socioeconomic classes have differing relationships to the river, meaning that the space of the Ganges can take on a vastly different importance to different groups. Finally, in Chennai, a city that has a burgeoning real estate market, land use and housing poses a unique paradox. The city has a surplus of about 50,000 houses due to the city’s real estate boom, but also is home to over ten thousand homeless with an insufficient and outdated system of shelters. These examples illustrate the modern division of space in India.