Description
Book SynopsisThe ubiquitous railway as a symbol of the tensions of Indian modernity.
Trade Review"In Tracking Modernity, Marian Aguiar demonstrates a compelling grasp of the complex discourses around and about India’s railway and its imbrication in the contested discourses of modernity, mobility, and migration. Aguiar offers both a panoramic and a concentrated view of the many modes of representation of the scene of the train, the spaces of the train, and the railway platform. Historically grounded, theoretically sophisticated, and clearly articulated, Tracking Modernity takes us on a journey through the Indian landscape as it changes from colonial depictions, to postcolonial destinations constantly underlining the violence and terror that the train conjures for the Indian imagination alongside its endless capacity for restless movement." —Sangeeta Ray, University of Maryland
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction: Tracking Modernity
1. The Permanent Way: Colonial Discourse of the Railway
2. The Machine of Empire: Technology and Decolonization
3. Partition and the Death Train
4. New Destinations: the Image of the Postcolonial Railway
5. Bollywood on the Train
Conclusion: Terrorism and the Railway
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Filmography
Index
