Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphasised a cl... more Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphasised a closer connection between the city and Sikhism. The recently inaugurated Heritage Street creates focal points in space that visually highlight this connection. Heritage Street forefronts an inclusive view of Sikhism that eclipses historical and political communal tensions and overwrites acts of offence. The dialogue between shrines and the movements of pilgrims and visitors through redeveloped spaces questions the architectured text of Heritage Street to present a parallel, if not competing, view of what heritage might mean.
PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2022
This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars ... more This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars around Sikhism's most sacred shrine, the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Rather like objects in museum exhibitions, souvenir art actively produces ideas of divinity and martyrdom. The deliberate arrangements of Guru and martyr souvenirs in shopwindows demonstrate the 'sense' of curation of ordinary shopkeepers in the bazaar. Shop displays, I argue, resemble the care of sacred art by museum curators. But there is more to shop displays than mere imitation. I analyse the vis-Ã -vis between the souvenir displays of two modern martyrs, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the militant leader of separatist Khalistan, and Bhagat Singh, the nationalist hero, that express bazaar understandings of martyr souvenirs as affective objects, possessing both ritual and political value. The curated displays in museums and shopwindows are critical in creating a conscious, purposive aura around modern Sikh martyrdom.
PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies
This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars ... more This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars around Sikhism’s most sacred shrine, the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Rather like objects in museum exhibitions, souvenir art actively produces ideas of divinity and martyrdom. The deliberate arrangements of Guru and martyr souvenirs in shopwindows demonstrate the ‘sense’ of curation of ordinary shopkeepers in the bazaar. Shop displays, I argue, resemble the care of sacred art by museum curators. But there is more to shop displays than mere imitation. I analyse the vis-à -vis between the souvenir displays of two modern martyrs, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the militant leader of separatist Khalistan, and Bhagat Singh, the nationalist hero, that express bazaar understandings of martyr souvenirs as affective objects, possessing both ritual and political value. The curated displays in museums and shopwindows are critical in creating a conscious, purposive aura around modern Sikh martyrdom.
PORTAL : Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2022
This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars ... more This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars around Sikhism's most sacred shrine, the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Rather like objects in museum exhibitions, souvenir art actively produces ideas of divinity and martyrdom. The deliberate arrangements of Guru and martyr souvenirs in shopwindows demonstrate the 'sense' of curation of ordinary shopkeepers in the bazaar. Shop displays, I argue, resemble the care of sacred art by museum curators. But there is more to shop displays than mere imitation. I analyse the vis-Ã -vis between the souvenir displays of two modern martyrs, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the militant leader of separatist Khalistan, and Bhagat Singh, the nationalist hero, that express bazaar understandings of martyr souvenirs as affective objects, possessing both ritual and political value. The curated displays in museums and shopwindows are critical in creating a conscious, purposive aura around modern Sikh martyrdom.
Soviet-style socialism has failed, yet the transition to capitalism has often proved to be fraugh... more Soviet-style socialism has failed, yet the transition to capitalism has often proved to be fraught with hazards. In this book, western and South Asian scholars analyze regional differences, and show that in India co-operative enterprises are pioneering a middle path.
The politics of gender and feminist research have outlined the deprivations and unequal entitleme... more The politics of gender and feminist research have outlined the deprivations and unequal entitlements in the lives of women. This frame has also produced the view that understanding women's lives is incomplete without looking at their everyday locations within families that must include relations with men. This research has tried to bring into focus the way that men's support can be outlined and reflected upon in the context of gender equality and domestic democracy. Supportive practices are more than an `alternative' frame within which to place men. They enable us to hear an aspect of men's lives and expressions of their subjective positions in ways that have not so far been addressed.
What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘h... more What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘home’, ‘sexuality’ and ‘work’ have beenoddly remiss in addressing the issue of masculinity and domestic work.More often spoken for than speaking, the life of a servant has anindistinct quality that begs attention. Using biography as a method toframe life lived as a male servant I suggest that a ‘servant biography’ is completed only in a subsequent life with which it is linked, imaginatively and substantively. Further, the historiography of servitudepositions the female worker as the principal actor, so that the templateupon which an understanding of domestic work is built is feminine.Additionally drawing on the literature on veiling and gender, I setmyself the task of retrieving the male servant.
This article explores the spatial politics of situating slaughterhouses at the margins of Mumbai ... more This article explores the spatial politics of situating slaughterhouses at the margins of Mumbai city enacted by the sanitary civic state and the caste labour of the butcher community. While the sanitary state mobilises colonial discourses of sanitation that deem animal slaughter unhygienic and so needing to be located at the shifting periphery of the city, an ethnography of the Muslim sub-castes of mutton and beef butchers suggests that animal slaughter is a form of caste labour that involves cultivating hereditary skills of working with flesh, bone and blood, which the Mumbai butchers refer to as ‘karigari’ (artisanship). Their caste labour is resisting the reconfiguration of the meat trade, which they view as fragmenting the community’s control over their labour. By bringing theories of urban space, state and caste among urban Muslims into the conversation, the article describes the ways in which scientific and communal ideas of sanitation are consolidated along a continuum. It also describes the ways in which caste and religion condense along an axis to form analogous structures that are deployed by the beef and mutton butchers to resist these spatial shifts.
'We went in with humility in our hearts and prayers on our lips'. (General K. Sunderji [ operatio... more 'We went in with humility in our hearts and prayers on our lips'. (General K. Sunderji [ operation-bluestaran-indian-army-view-point Accessed 6 June 2015) Despite the retrospective piety expressed by General Sunderji (Commander of Western Command in 1984; and subsequently Chief of Army Staff), the orchestrated military assault on Sri Darbar Sahib, the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, by the Indian Army during 'Operation Bluestar' is most frequently spoken of as a deeply traumatic event evoking intense but uneasy remembrances. Maps of the operation circulate widely on the internet. Even many years later, these maps and battle plans arouse shock and awe. The map (figure ) shown here is preserved in the Library of the Durbar Sahib. It demonstrates how the complex was entered through different gateways. The 10th Guard entered at the north end, through the main gate or the Ghanta Ghar entrance; the 26 Madras was expected to enter eastern side, but did not manage to do so, confronted as they were with intense firing from the Langar, the Guru Ram Das Serai, and the offices of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Two companies of 9 Garhwal were brought in near the southern entrance. All accounts speak of the fierce fighting, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat in rooms surrounding the parikrama, the walkway around the Sarovar. The army entered the sacred complex on 5th June 1984, and declared it 'secure' by 7th June 1984. In his book Operation Bluestar: The True Story (1993), General K.S. Brar, who commanded the army operation, speaks of the operation beginning at 10.30 pm on the night of June 5th, and the fighting dying down by the early hours of June 7th. The routes leading to the complex were cordoned off, and the 15 Infantry Division sealed all roads leading into the city of Amritsar. Residents of Amritsar confined to their homes during the course of a 32 hour curfew imposed on the walled city from 1 June 1984, recalled hearing the staccato gunfire of battle and feeling the ground shake beneath their feet, a memory that remains fresh in their minds. Standing on the balconies of their homes, some residents watched the troops enter the narrow gullies leading to the complex. 'We sat huddled together inside our homes as a never-ending succession of explosions and continuous gunfire ripped through the night. It was dark and terribly humid. The electric supply had been shut down and all telephone lines had been cut,' recalled Kanwarpal Singh Bittoo, at the time a young student at the Khalsa College in Amritsar (BBC News Flashbacks/Golden Temple Attacks/3 June 2004). When curfew was finally lifted, many ran
What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘h... more What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘home’, ‘sexuality ’ and ‘work ’ have beenoddly remiss in addressing the issue of masculinity and domestic work.More often spoken for than speaking, the life of a servant has anindistinct quality that begs attention. Using biography as a method toframe life lived as a male servant I suggest that a ‘servant biography ’ iscompleted only in a subsequent life with which it is linked,imaginatively and substantively. Further, the historiography of servitudepositions the female worker as the principal actor, so that the templateupon which an understanding of domestic work is built is feminine.Additionally drawing on the literature on veiling and gender, I setmyself the task of retrieving the male servant.
Abstract Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphas... more Abstract Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphasised a closer connection between the city and Sikhism. The recently inaugurated Heritage Street creates focal points in space that visually highlight this connection. Heritage Street forefronts an inclusive view of Sikhism that eclipses historical and political communal tensions and overwrites acts of offence. The dialogue between shrines and the movements of pilgrims and visitors through redeveloped spaces questions the architectured text of Heritage Street to present a parallel, if not competing, view of what heritage might mean.
ABSTRACT In India mortuary practice, corpses are highly visible at specific moments of death. Vie... more ABSTRACT In India mortuary practice, corpses are highly visible at specific moments of death. Viewing the face of the dead person before cremation or ‘muh dekhna’, is the memory retained by kinsmen. The corpse itself is rarely photographed or painted. In militancy torn Punjab, however, some corpses were photographed. What message did the photograph send? How was the corpse viewed? I analyse how the ritual of muh dekhna is altered by post mortem photographs preserved in the library archives of the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar, to explore how a ritual process is transformed and viewing becomes a political act.
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Bringing a Field to Focus 2. Commemorating Hurt: Memorialising ... more Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Bringing a Field to Focus 2. Commemorating Hurt: Memorialising Operation Bluestar 3. Binocular Disparity: Risky Strategies and Family Plans 4. Sent Away Boys: The 'Ghar Jawai' and the Militant 5. Transacting Asylum: Transnational Communities, Hospitality and Political Asylum 6. Descent to Illegality: Transnational Migrations of Labouring Men. Bibliography. About the Author. Index
Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphasised a cl... more Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphasised a closer connection between the city and Sikhism. The recently inaugurated Heritage Street creates focal points in space that visually highlight this connection. Heritage Street forefronts an inclusive view of Sikhism that eclipses historical and political communal tensions and overwrites acts of offence. The dialogue between shrines and the movements of pilgrims and visitors through redeveloped spaces questions the architectured text of Heritage Street to present a parallel, if not competing, view of what heritage might mean.
PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2022
This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars ... more This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars around Sikhism's most sacred shrine, the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Rather like objects in museum exhibitions, souvenir art actively produces ideas of divinity and martyrdom. The deliberate arrangements of Guru and martyr souvenirs in shopwindows demonstrate the 'sense' of curation of ordinary shopkeepers in the bazaar. Shop displays, I argue, resemble the care of sacred art by museum curators. But there is more to shop displays than mere imitation. I analyse the vis-Ã -vis between the souvenir displays of two modern martyrs, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the militant leader of separatist Khalistan, and Bhagat Singh, the nationalist hero, that express bazaar understandings of martyr souvenirs as affective objects, possessing both ritual and political value. The curated displays in museums and shopwindows are critical in creating a conscious, purposive aura around modern Sikh martyrdom.
PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies
This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars ... more This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars around Sikhism’s most sacred shrine, the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Rather like objects in museum exhibitions, souvenir art actively produces ideas of divinity and martyrdom. The deliberate arrangements of Guru and martyr souvenirs in shopwindows demonstrate the ‘sense’ of curation of ordinary shopkeepers in the bazaar. Shop displays, I argue, resemble the care of sacred art by museum curators. But there is more to shop displays than mere imitation. I analyse the vis-à -vis between the souvenir displays of two modern martyrs, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the militant leader of separatist Khalistan, and Bhagat Singh, the nationalist hero, that express bazaar understandings of martyr souvenirs as affective objects, possessing both ritual and political value. The curated displays in museums and shopwindows are critical in creating a conscious, purposive aura around modern Sikh martyrdom.
PORTAL : Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2022
This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars ... more This paper explores the universe of souvenirs of Sikh Gurus and martyrs available in the bazaars around Sikhism's most sacred shrine, the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Rather like objects in museum exhibitions, souvenir art actively produces ideas of divinity and martyrdom. The deliberate arrangements of Guru and martyr souvenirs in shopwindows demonstrate the 'sense' of curation of ordinary shopkeepers in the bazaar. Shop displays, I argue, resemble the care of sacred art by museum curators. But there is more to shop displays than mere imitation. I analyse the vis-Ã -vis between the souvenir displays of two modern martyrs, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the militant leader of separatist Khalistan, and Bhagat Singh, the nationalist hero, that express bazaar understandings of martyr souvenirs as affective objects, possessing both ritual and political value. The curated displays in museums and shopwindows are critical in creating a conscious, purposive aura around modern Sikh martyrdom.
Soviet-style socialism has failed, yet the transition to capitalism has often proved to be fraugh... more Soviet-style socialism has failed, yet the transition to capitalism has often proved to be fraught with hazards. In this book, western and South Asian scholars analyze regional differences, and show that in India co-operative enterprises are pioneering a middle path.
The politics of gender and feminist research have outlined the deprivations and unequal entitleme... more The politics of gender and feminist research have outlined the deprivations and unequal entitlements in the lives of women. This frame has also produced the view that understanding women's lives is incomplete without looking at their everyday locations within families that must include relations with men. This research has tried to bring into focus the way that men's support can be outlined and reflected upon in the context of gender equality and domestic democracy. Supportive practices are more than an `alternative' frame within which to place men. They enable us to hear an aspect of men's lives and expressions of their subjective positions in ways that have not so far been addressed.
What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘h... more What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘home’, ‘sexuality’ and ‘work’ have beenoddly remiss in addressing the issue of masculinity and domestic work.More often spoken for than speaking, the life of a servant has anindistinct quality that begs attention. Using biography as a method toframe life lived as a male servant I suggest that a ‘servant biography’ is completed only in a subsequent life with which it is linked, imaginatively and substantively. Further, the historiography of servitudepositions the female worker as the principal actor, so that the templateupon which an understanding of domestic work is built is feminine.Additionally drawing on the literature on veiling and gender, I setmyself the task of retrieving the male servant.
This article explores the spatial politics of situating slaughterhouses at the margins of Mumbai ... more This article explores the spatial politics of situating slaughterhouses at the margins of Mumbai city enacted by the sanitary civic state and the caste labour of the butcher community. While the sanitary state mobilises colonial discourses of sanitation that deem animal slaughter unhygienic and so needing to be located at the shifting periphery of the city, an ethnography of the Muslim sub-castes of mutton and beef butchers suggests that animal slaughter is a form of caste labour that involves cultivating hereditary skills of working with flesh, bone and blood, which the Mumbai butchers refer to as ‘karigari’ (artisanship). Their caste labour is resisting the reconfiguration of the meat trade, which they view as fragmenting the community’s control over their labour. By bringing theories of urban space, state and caste among urban Muslims into the conversation, the article describes the ways in which scientific and communal ideas of sanitation are consolidated along a continuum. It also describes the ways in which caste and religion condense along an axis to form analogous structures that are deployed by the beef and mutton butchers to resist these spatial shifts.
'We went in with humility in our hearts and prayers on our lips'. (General K. Sunderji [ operatio... more 'We went in with humility in our hearts and prayers on our lips'. (General K. Sunderji [ operation-bluestaran-indian-army-view-point Accessed 6 June 2015) Despite the retrospective piety expressed by General Sunderji (Commander of Western Command in 1984; and subsequently Chief of Army Staff), the orchestrated military assault on Sri Darbar Sahib, the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, by the Indian Army during 'Operation Bluestar' is most frequently spoken of as a deeply traumatic event evoking intense but uneasy remembrances. Maps of the operation circulate widely on the internet. Even many years later, these maps and battle plans arouse shock and awe. The map (figure ) shown here is preserved in the Library of the Durbar Sahib. It demonstrates how the complex was entered through different gateways. The 10th Guard entered at the north end, through the main gate or the Ghanta Ghar entrance; the 26 Madras was expected to enter eastern side, but did not manage to do so, confronted as they were with intense firing from the Langar, the Guru Ram Das Serai, and the offices of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Two companies of 9 Garhwal were brought in near the southern entrance. All accounts speak of the fierce fighting, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat in rooms surrounding the parikrama, the walkway around the Sarovar. The army entered the sacred complex on 5th June 1984, and declared it 'secure' by 7th June 1984. In his book Operation Bluestar: The True Story (1993), General K.S. Brar, who commanded the army operation, speaks of the operation beginning at 10.30 pm on the night of June 5th, and the fighting dying down by the early hours of June 7th. The routes leading to the complex were cordoned off, and the 15 Infantry Division sealed all roads leading into the city of Amritsar. Residents of Amritsar confined to their homes during the course of a 32 hour curfew imposed on the walled city from 1 June 1984, recalled hearing the staccato gunfire of battle and feeling the ground shake beneath their feet, a memory that remains fresh in their minds. Standing on the balconies of their homes, some residents watched the troops enter the narrow gullies leading to the complex. 'We sat huddled together inside our homes as a never-ending succession of explosions and continuous gunfire ripped through the night. It was dark and terribly humid. The electric supply had been shut down and all telephone lines had been cut,' recalled Kanwarpal Singh Bittoo, at the time a young student at the Khalsa College in Amritsar (BBC News Flashbacks/Golden Temple Attacks/3 June 2004). When curfew was finally lifted, many ran
What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘h... more What does it mean to be a male servant in modern India? The richanthropological literatures on ‘home’, ‘sexuality ’ and ‘work ’ have beenoddly remiss in addressing the issue of masculinity and domestic work.More often spoken for than speaking, the life of a servant has anindistinct quality that begs attention. Using biography as a method toframe life lived as a male servant I suggest that a ‘servant biography ’ iscompleted only in a subsequent life with which it is linked,imaginatively and substantively. Further, the historiography of servitudepositions the female worker as the principal actor, so that the templateupon which an understanding of domestic work is built is feminine.Additionally drawing on the literature on veiling and gender, I setmyself the task of retrieving the male servant.
Abstract Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphas... more Abstract Amritsar is famous for its landscape of shrines. Recent urban redevelopments have emphasised a closer connection between the city and Sikhism. The recently inaugurated Heritage Street creates focal points in space that visually highlight this connection. Heritage Street forefronts an inclusive view of Sikhism that eclipses historical and political communal tensions and overwrites acts of offence. The dialogue between shrines and the movements of pilgrims and visitors through redeveloped spaces questions the architectured text of Heritage Street to present a parallel, if not competing, view of what heritage might mean.
ABSTRACT In India mortuary practice, corpses are highly visible at specific moments of death. Vie... more ABSTRACT In India mortuary practice, corpses are highly visible at specific moments of death. Viewing the face of the dead person before cremation or ‘muh dekhna’, is the memory retained by kinsmen. The corpse itself is rarely photographed or painted. In militancy torn Punjab, however, some corpses were photographed. What message did the photograph send? How was the corpse viewed? I analyse how the ritual of muh dekhna is altered by post mortem photographs preserved in the library archives of the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar, to explore how a ritual process is transformed and viewing becomes a political act.
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Bringing a Field to Focus 2. Commemorating Hurt: Memorialising ... more Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Bringing a Field to Focus 2. Commemorating Hurt: Memorialising Operation Bluestar 3. Binocular Disparity: Risky Strategies and Family Plans 4. Sent Away Boys: The 'Ghar Jawai' and the Militant 5. Transacting Asylum: Transnational Communities, Hospitality and Political Asylum 6. Descent to Illegality: Transnational Migrations of Labouring Men. Bibliography. About the Author. Index
Religion and sacred art form the core of Sikh art in Splendors of Punjab: Art from the Khanuja Fa... more Religion and sacred art form the core of Sikh art in Splendors of Punjab: Art from the Khanuja Family Collection. With essays by Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja preceding each thematic chapter, and edited with an Introduction by Dr. Paul Michael Taylor, curator of the Smithsonian Sikh Heritage Project, the paintings, drawings, photographs, weaponry, jewelry, textiles, coins, manuscripts, maps, facsimiles of letters, post cards, postal envelopes, stamps, albums, commemorative plates, are an invitation to engage with the history and heritage of Punjab.
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Papers by Radhika Chopra