Logics of Dispossession: Comparative Genealogies of India’s World Class City Evictions
537 Heller Hall (ICGC) and live stream option
Discussant: Snigdha Kumar
This book presents a comparative genealogical analysis of informal settlement evictions in Indian cities from the late 19th century to the present. Drawing on extensive archival research and ethnographic fieldwork, it traces how evictions have been shaped over time by critical events and their associated governing logics to produce the cumulative logics underlying the practice today. This talk will outline the broader framework for the book and an empirical chapter focusing on the critical event of the Emergency, during which time, evictions came to be used as a tool for securing electoral advantage and showcasing government power – coalescing into “electoral eviction logics” still relevant today. Tracing the genealogies of contemporary eviction practices across India’s largest cities, this analysis offers more historical grounded explanations for contested politics in Indian cities today, while contributing to broader debates in global urban studies and comparative historical sociology.
About the Speaker
Liza Weinstein is Associate Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University and co-editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR). She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from University of Chicago in 2009. Her research focuses on the politics of urban development, housing movements, and residential informality with a focus on Indian cities. Her first book, “The Durable Slum: Dharavi and the Right to Stay Put in Globalizing Mumbai,” was published in 2014 in University of Minnesota Press’ series in Globalization and Community.