The essays in this volume revisit the city of Mumbai and the many facets of its political life from the 1880s to the 2000s. They trace the metamorphosis of Mumbai from a colonial port city under foreign rule into a metropolis and the prime commercial centre in independent India. Mumbai’s urban transition and its dramatic and continuing change in physical shape and urban morphology form the backdrop for these essays. The volume deals with varying themes–from colonial political cultures to the highly nationalist and exclusivist Hindu politics. It highlights the urban political and socio-cultural developments of Mumbai. The topics range from power in Mumbai’s mohallas, urban politics, crowd action, audiences and events, the control of Prabhat Pheris, celebrations of independence, and congress and right wing politics and the Bombay riots of 1993. The volume also explores the structure of power within various localities of the city: how physical force and power structure patterned social hierarchies. As the title indicates, it discusses struggles within the city for power, self-expression, and identity formation. As a whole the essays are concerned with three themes: space, locality, and identity, as they track through some of the key events of Mumbai’s past. It is about the people of Mumbai and how they have viewed and expressed themselves within the city and in an extended sense made the city a distinctive identity. Written in different contexts, the essays share a common concern with the city itself as a phenomenon. An extremely readable biography of the city, this volume will be of interest to political scientists, urban scholars, historians, sociologists, and the interested lay reader.
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