Paper short abstract:

The paper maps and compares recent community projects in Mumbai, a centre of the Bohra community as well as diaspora localities. Encountering references to the Fatimid legacy it raises the question which ideas inform the construction and infrastructure projects of the community?

Paper long abstract:

August 2022: being given an introductory tour to the shiny new Al-Saadah tower as a first landmark construction in the grand urban redevelopment project of Bhendi Bazaar, a predominantly Bohra neighbourhood in Mumbai, my Bohra host highlights elements of Islamic architecture in the high-rising block. Probed further, a Fatimid architectural legacy is stressed and jaali or ornamental / latticed screens covering the lower windows are referred to as an example of this style.

Initial fieldwork in Mumbai suggests that Fatimid architecture or rather a Neo-Fatimid form plays a major role in the construction of an identity for the Daudi Bohras, i.e. for a community involved in diverse infrastructure projects such as bazaars, universities or mosques across a wide-ranging geographical network spanning the Indian ocean (and beyond).

The paper starts by mapping and comparing recent community projects in Mumbai as a centre of the community as well as various diaspora localities and raises the question which architectural ideas inform the construction and infrastructure projects or (re)development more broadly of the Bohra community?