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Accepted Paper:

"Public good" versus "private convenience": colonial ideology and city space  
Anna Gust (Five Colleges, Massachusetts)

Paper short abstract:

Using petitions in the Town Committee reports, this paper explores the ways in which ideologies of colonial space clashed with the demands and practices of the local, Bombay population.

Paper long abstract:

In 1803, an accidental fire burnt down a large part of Bombay Fort, primarily affecting the properties of Parsi, Muslim and Hindu merchants who resided, traded and stored their produce in the same buildings. Referred to as 'the late calamity', the fire actually offered up the opportunity to re-create the layout of Fort in line with an ideology of what the town should be and who it should be for. The letters of the Town Committee that undertook this project are contained in the Public Diaries alongside petitions written disputing their actions and intentions. Altogether, they offer a fascinating insight into the ways in which Bombay Town was built up in the early 19th century but particularly the ways in which colonial ideology interpreted and negotiated the demands and claims of an extremely heterogeneous population. Using petitions in the Town Committee reports, this paper explores the ways in which ideologies of colonial space clashed with the demands and practices of the local, Bombay population.

Panel P20
Bombay from the ashes: the creation and emergence of city space, 1803-1920
  Session 1