I am, Tripta Chandola, a researcher based in Delhi. I am pursuing my PhD from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. My PhD topic is, The Noisy City: In-between Sound and Silence, and through my doctorate research I aim to understand the dynamics between the acoustic and physical space(s) in the city and the manner in which each influences the trajectories drawn into these spaces. Also, I am interested in exploring the relations between aurality and modernity and the manner in which it is posed vis-à-vis visuality and modernity.
I am working in the slum settlements of Govindpuri in Delhi. I am looking at the spaces, immediate, extended and imagined, where the slums and the city interact and engage and its politics. In doing so, I am questioning and reworking the construction of slums as representative of 'sites' of social, economic, political, and moral degeneration in the city. Through the examination of the everyday interactions between the slums and the city, I intend to explore the role of the slums in the city and through the narratives of/from this space, emphasis on the 'matter of choice' that the residents of the slums exercise in living in these spaces, which more often than not is denied to them. The research this far has informed me that the slums view the city through the same lens the city views them as sites of social, moral, political, economic degeneration. It's the legitimacy one perspective enjoys over the other which involves and engages the space in the larger discourse.
My doctorate research stems from my overarching and overwhelming interest in the city, its lives, loves and longings; the urban and its myriad forms, imaginations and projections. I am aware that no matter how much of myself I invest in understanding the 'city', 'urban' engaging through intricately woven, intelligent sounding questions and categories, I will never fathom it in totality. I do not aspire to, either. I find my solace, my calling, my tribulations in its parts.
It is in these corners, through these windows that I find my noises, hear my stories, read my poetry and see my music in between sound and silence!
I am working in the slum settlements of Govindpuri in Delhi. I am looking at the spaces, immediate, extended and imagined, where the slums and the city interact and engage and its politics. In doing so, I am questioning and reworking the construction of slums as representative of 'sites' of social, economic, political, and moral degeneration in the city. Through the examination of the everyday interactions between the slums and the city, I intend to explore the role of the slums in the city and through the narratives of/from this space, emphasis on the 'matter of choice' that the residents of the slums exercise in living in these spaces, which more often than not is denied to them. The research this far has informed me that the slums view the city through the same lens the city views them as sites of social, moral, political, economic degeneration. It's the legitimacy one perspective enjoys over the other which involves and engages the space in the larger discourse.
My doctorate research stems from my overarching and overwhelming interest in the city, its lives, loves and longings; the urban and its myriad forms, imaginations and projections. I am aware that no matter how much of myself I invest in understanding the 'city', 'urban' engaging through intricately woven, intelligent sounding questions and categories, I will never fathom it in totality. I do not aspire to, either. I find my solace, my calling, my tribulations in its parts.
It is in these corners, through these windows that I find my noises, hear my stories, read my poetry and see my music in between sound and silence!