Of Garbage, Modernity and the Citizen s Gaze

Dipesh Chakrabarty In the language of modernity and civic consciousness the Indian indifference to notions of 'private' and 'public' in their use of open space contrasted with the immaculate 'order' of the European quarters. This paper aims to contest and critique modernist readings of the use of open spaces in India by opposing to these readings certain structu al speculations based on a preliminary examination of some relevant historical and anthropological material.