{"product_id":"unlearning-the-city-swati-chattopadhyay-9780816679324","title":"Unlearning the City: Infrastructure in a New Optical Field","description":"\u003cp\u003eCities are more than concrete and steel infrastructure. But modern urban theory does not have the language to describe and debate the vital component of urban life that is lived on the streets of cities and towns. Swati Chattopadhyay has written a nuanced argument for a new vocabulary of the city in \u003ci\u003eUnlearning the City\u003c\/i\u003e, proposing a way of analyzing the materiality of the urban that captures the ever-changing element of human experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUrban life is intrinsically messy and usually refuses to conform to the rigid views laid down in much of urban studies theory. Chattopadhyay looks at urban life in India with a fresh perspective that incorporates the everyday and the unstructured. As the first to apply the theories of subalternity for an understanding of urban history, Chattopadhyay provides an in-depth study of vehicular art, street cricket, political wall writing, and religious festivities that link the visual and spatial attributes of these popular cultural forms with the imagination and practices of urban life. She contends that these practices have a direct impact on the configuration and knowledge of public space, and the political potential of the people inhabiting cities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnlearning the City\u003c\/i\u003e uses the popular culture of Indian cities to question the dominant conception of urban infrastructure and encourage a conceptual realignment in how the city is seen, discussed, and even experienced. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Swati Chattopadhyay\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0816679320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780816679324\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Minnesota Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/31\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.70d","brand":"Swati Chattopadhyay","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48438020800767,"sku":"9780816679324","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_23744066-f5c9-4b62-86fa-ae204e0d2597.jpg?v=1777168258","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/unlearning-the-city-swati-chattopadhyay-9780816679324","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}