Chinese Calcuttawallah: Articulating a Diaspora Ethnic Identity in India

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

By examining the everyday geographies of ethnic identity, place-making and cultural landscape transformations, as well as tracing the root of the Chinese community's origin through cartographic and archival records, this book depicts multi-cultural landscape formation in Kolkata (Calcutta). The authors capture how Kolkata's vibrant Chinese community has uniquely shaped the 'twin Chinatowns' amidst the city's diverse urban tapestry and gradually modified the adjacent cultural landscape towards a 'little China'. As these neighbourhoods encounter modern challenges of gentrification and global connectivity, the book explores the ways in which the community, particularly its youth, navigates the complexities of maintaining a transnational identity while being deeply rooted in the local cultural milieu. From the continuous ebb and flow of migration to the fostering of hybrid identities, this analysis examines how these transformations impact community cohesion and cultural heritage.

Featuring poignant individual case studies from Indian-Chinese respondents, the book examines issues such as identity, preservation efforts and the effects of socio-economic changes. Research techniques like adopting visual ethnographic 'streetscape' and cognitive 'emotional' cartography depict the everyday geography of the 'twin Chinatowns', illustrating how these communities claim their spaces and build connections on a global scale. Kunaljeet Roy and Sukla Basu reconnect with the essence of Kolkata's Chinese community and showcase how they navigate the challenges of a globalised world while holding onto the threads of heritage that define them as a 'Chinese Calcuttawallah'.

Author Bio

Kunaljeet Roy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Telangana, India. They have a Ph.D. in Geography (2022), awarded by West Bengal State University, West Bengal, India. Their research areas focus on Urban Geography, Migration and Diaspora Studies. Sukla Basu is Professor and Head of the Department of Rural Studies at West Bengal State University, Barasat, Kolkata. They were the Former Associate Professor in Geography at West Bengal State University, Barasat, Kolkata. They were also awarded a 'Siksha Ratna' in 2021 from the Government of West Bengal.