Chayanika Saxena
I am a President Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore (Singapore). I was previously at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) as Student Research Assistant and Post Graduate Student of International Relations. Prior to this, I was at South Asian University (New Delhi, India) for a Master's in International Relations.
A political and human geographer, my doctoral thesis will look at the socio-spatial negotiations of the Afghan refugees and migrants in the Indian cities of New Delhi and Kolkata. The purpose is to understand how the experiences, adjustments and resistance exercised by those 'away from home' are manifested over space, and which in turn, impact who they are as they 'dwell in displacement'. My research will look at this dialogic relation between (dis)placement and people from the perspective of the Afghan refugees and diaspora who are residing in New Delhi and Kolkata.
I have more 8+ years of research experience on Afghanistan and have published and presented on related matters nationally and internationally. I maintain linguistic proficiency in Hindi, Urdu, English and have a working knowledge of Farsi and basic knowledge of Arabic.
Supervisors: Dr. Chih Yuan Woon and Prof. James D. Sidaway
A political and human geographer, my doctoral thesis will look at the socio-spatial negotiations of the Afghan refugees and migrants in the Indian cities of New Delhi and Kolkata. The purpose is to understand how the experiences, adjustments and resistance exercised by those 'away from home' are manifested over space, and which in turn, impact who they are as they 'dwell in displacement'. My research will look at this dialogic relation between (dis)placement and people from the perspective of the Afghan refugees and diaspora who are residing in New Delhi and Kolkata.
I have more 8+ years of research experience on Afghanistan and have published and presented on related matters nationally and internationally. I maintain linguistic proficiency in Hindi, Urdu, English and have a working knowledge of Farsi and basic knowledge of Arabic.
Supervisors: Dr. Chih Yuan Woon and Prof. James D. Sidaway
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Book Reviews by Chayanika Saxena
(p. xv) asks Chatterjee and proceeds to answer this question in his book. Spread over
five densely sub-titled chapters, the author addresses three concerns: (i) what conception
of space underlies India’s vision of its neighbourhood? (ii) who articulates this
vision?, and (iii) what are the consequences of the dominant imagination?
none of which owe themselves directly to geography. However, despite
their structural dissimilarities, one is able to locate significant thematic
overlaps between them. Similarly, notwithstanding their non-geography orientation, they are attentive to things that are geographical
such as space, scale, borders, home in ways that demonstrate that lived
experiences are affected by the environments in which they are materially and discursively organised. In this review essay, I have identified
four such themes that cut across these books, allowing them to speak to
each other and to the discipline of geography on the whole. These are
(i) dwelling in displacement; (ii) identity and home; (iii) spaces of
segregation, and (iv) hosts' home. I will touch upon them one-by-one to
provide “jumping off points” (O'Loughlin, Raento, Sidaway & Steinberg,
2010, p. 2) that locate the “informal contexts” (O'Loughlin et al., 2010,
p. 2) in which these works are embedded. Transnational displacement
and the accompanying affective and effective uprootedness, however,
as we shall see below, are central to all these books.
Papers by Chayanika Saxena
(p. xv) asks Chatterjee and proceeds to answer this question in his book. Spread over
five densely sub-titled chapters, the author addresses three concerns: (i) what conception
of space underlies India’s vision of its neighbourhood? (ii) who articulates this
vision?, and (iii) what are the consequences of the dominant imagination?
none of which owe themselves directly to geography. However, despite
their structural dissimilarities, one is able to locate significant thematic
overlaps between them. Similarly, notwithstanding their non-geography orientation, they are attentive to things that are geographical
such as space, scale, borders, home in ways that demonstrate that lived
experiences are affected by the environments in which they are materially and discursively organised. In this review essay, I have identified
four such themes that cut across these books, allowing them to speak to
each other and to the discipline of geography on the whole. These are
(i) dwelling in displacement; (ii) identity and home; (iii) spaces of
segregation, and (iv) hosts' home. I will touch upon them one-by-one to
provide “jumping off points” (O'Loughlin, Raento, Sidaway & Steinberg,
2010, p. 2) that locate the “informal contexts” (O'Loughlin et al., 2010,
p. 2) in which these works are embedded. Transnational displacement
and the accompanying affective and effective uprootedness, however,
as we shall see below, are central to all these books.