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Unsettling Memories: Narratives of the 'Emergency' in Delhi
Focusing on India's "Emergency" of 1975-7, when democracy was temporarily suspended in favour of an authoritarian regime, this book explores the avenues through which this event is remembered and forgotten. Based on fieldwork and archival analysis, "Unsettling Memories" traces the experiences and perceptions of those men and women who were the targets of the infamous slum clearance and sterilisation campaign which converged to disrupt life in the nation's capital Delhi. Interweaving personal and official memories with a re-reading of resistance literature, Emergency propaganda and government files, and the author offers a complex narrative of the Emergency. This book should be of interest to anthropologists, historians and political scientists as well as anyone concerned with everyday violence, the ethnography of events and life among India's urban poor.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 24, 2025
What an incredible account of a time that barely anyone talks about lately, even those who having live through it. This is a perfectly researched and comprehensively studied work presented with shrewd personal insights and self awareness.
Of the demolitions of Emergency-era, before, and beyond, it lays out the contradictions, confusions, pain, and resigned humour of different instances and the many versions of facts.
Almost always when something is said about an Indian political event, either of today or the past, there are people fighting with and defending using generalisations. Every incident attributed to the latter has a counter-incident that supposedly proves that, in fact, the opposite is true. From the Mughals, to the British, local kings, and the chequered post-independent politics, many have strong, generalising opinions of them all. More so, since social media has given a platform to anyone pretending to be an expert via experience.
The way arguments and evidences are presented in this book is a testament that even the history of events in this hyperlocalised setting of a neighbourhood in one part of Delhi cannot be generalised into a few sweeping statements. It patiently encourages you to accept the complex and contradictory realities - something that is lost on a large number of people today regardless of the subject.
I loved reading this and even with the detailed narration it is completely riveting owing to the massive brilliance of the thoughts and the writing.
Of the demolitions of Emergency-era, before, and beyond, it lays out the contradictions, confusions, pain, and resigned humour of different instances and the many versions of facts.
Almost always when something is said about an Indian political event, either of today or the past, there are people fighting with and defending using generalisations. Every incident attributed to the latter has a counter-incident that supposedly proves that, in fact, the opposite is true. From the Mughals, to the British, local kings, and the chequered post-independent politics, many have strong, generalising opinions of them all. More so, since social media has given a platform to anyone pretending to be an expert via experience.
The way arguments and evidences are presented in this book is a testament that even the history of events in this hyperlocalised setting of a neighbourhood in one part of Delhi cannot be generalised into a few sweeping statements. It patiently encourages you to accept the complex and contradictory realities - something that is lost on a large number of people today regardless of the subject.
I loved reading this and even with the detailed narration it is completely riveting owing to the massive brilliance of the thoughts and the writing.
October 21, 2025
powerful ethnography on the emergency in india, exposes “paper truths” and connects w personal narratives
Currently Reading
May 19, 2008Just started reading this while in India.... Indira Gandhi's attempt to "cure" Delhi of slums dwellers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews