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Urban Utopias pp 169-187 | Cite as

Past as a Metaphor in the New Utopian Imaginations of Heritage in Kerala

  • Rachel A. Varghese
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Part of the Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology book series (PSUA)

Abstract

Varghese interrogates the new imaginations and practices around heritage that have crystallized in the South Indian state of Kerala in the context of the international art exhibition, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. She shows how, by building a past narrative of happy cosmopolitanism and bestowing it with time depth, the host city of Kochi is cast anew as “Kochi-Muziris.” This new formulation contains within it the potentiality to achieve a utopian ideal. However, this occurs through a process of narrative exclusion and re-appropriation that plays with the temporal and territorial notions of Kochi’s past and through a selective privileging of places.

Keywords

Host City Utopian Imagination South Indian State Ancient Port Indian Ocean Trade 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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© The Author(s) 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Rachel A. Varghese
    • 1
  1. 1.Centre for Historical StudiesJawaharlal Nehru UniversityNew DelhiIndia

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