Building Histories: The Archival and Affective Lives of Five Monuments in Modern Delhi
Mrinalini Rajagopalan
Abstract
Building Histories traces the lives of five monuments in Delhi—Red Fort; Rasul Numa Dargah; Jama Masjid; Purana Qila; and the Qutb Complex—from the mid-nineteenth century to the twentieth century. Each monument is explored in an individual chapter, which considers the various appropriations of its history, function, and symbolism by state (colonial and postcolonial) and non-state actors. The starting point for this discussion is the mid-nineteenth century when institutionalized preservation cemented the histories, uses, symbolism, and stewardship of monuments within a rigid archive policed by ... More
Building Histories traces the lives of five monuments in Delhi—Red Fort; Rasul Numa Dargah; Jama Masjid; Purana Qila; and the Qutb Complex—from the mid-nineteenth century to the twentieth century. Each monument is explored in an individual chapter, which considers the various appropriations of its history, function, and symbolism by state (colonial and postcolonial) and non-state actors. The starting point for this discussion is the mid-nineteenth century when institutionalized preservation cemented the histories, uses, symbolism, and stewardship of monuments within a rigid archive policed by colonial and later national bureaucracies. Yet this archive was and continues to be constantly interrupted and challenged by affect—the emotive economy generated around the monument at various points in time. It is at this intersection of archival “truths” and affective “passions” that the book charts the changing lives of these five monuments. In doing so it reveals the profoundly mutable histories of these monuments—histories that transformed non-linearly over time; histories generated by unexpected co-optations and urgent inhabitations; and histories authored by various actors often with competing agendas. Building Histories is a book about the histories of buildings; it is also a meditation on the building of histories through these monuments.
Keywords:
architecture,
preservation,
colonial histories,
Delhi,
Archaeological Survey of India,
Red Fort,
Jama Masjid,
Rasul Numa Dargah,
Purana Qila,
Qutb Minar,
ASI
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226283470 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: September 2017 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226331898.001.0001 |
