Urban Spaces, Disney-Divinity and Moral Consumption in Delhi
Sanjay Srivastava, School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University
This paper provides an ethnography of the relationship between urban space, the state, new cultures of consumption, and the making of class and gender identities in India. There are two related sites of analysis. Firstly, the discussion explores the making of new urban spaces by focusing upon the massive and recently constructed Akshardham Temple complex on the banks of the river Yamuna in Delhi. Surrounded by a network of flyovers, highways, toll-ways, and the suburban developments that are home to the new middle-classes, the complex is designed as a high-tech religious and nationalist theme park. It incorporates several design features from global attractions such as Universal Studios and Disneyland. The Delhi government sponsored Bhagidari [‘Sharing’] scheme that brings together representatives of the Resident’s Welfare Associations (RWAs), Market Traders Associations (MTAs), and key government officials at periodically organised workshops, forms the second site of focus. Discussions at these workshops range over ‘urban problems’ and their solution, and the role of the family in regulating urban life. Participants also sing and dance to Bhagidari ‘anthems’ (praising ‘citizen-state cooperation’), while wearing specially designed baseball caps and waving colorful flags. This vision of the city marries the idea of the consuming family located in legally defined spaces to that of a transparent and responsive state machinery. It also produces narratives of ‘threats’ to the formal city from urban under-classes.
