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The Islamic built environment in India is under tremendous strain today. Mosques, especially, are disparaged as “ocular reminders” of India’s Muslim past. In this context, how can we understand the range of significations that such sites have for ordinary Muslims? This talk focuses on mosques on the southeastern coast of India, built in a distinctive style that is rooted in local architectural idioms. Such mosques are an integral part of the Tamil sacred landscape, indexing the region’s longstanding Muslim presence as well as histories of maritime trade and mobility. The presentation explores how the architecture and materiality of the built environment mediate people's connection to the past, and how such sites are reimagined as spaces of heritage, historical consciousness, and cultural value.
Harini Kumar is a postdoctoral research associate at the M.S. Chadha Center for Global India and the Department of History at Princeton University. She is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on Islam and Muslim societies in contemporary India, lived religion, the built environment, kinship, gender, migration, and the everyday.
This event is part of the 'Power, Inequality, Dissent' series led by Prof. Divya Cherian (History) and Dr. Harini Kumar (History/CGI).
Harini Kumar is a postdoctoral research associate at the M.S. Chadha Center for Global India and the Department of History at Princeton University. She is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on Islam and Muslim societies in contemporary India, lived religion, the built environment, kinship, gender, migration, and the everyday.
This event is part of the 'Power, Inequality, Dissent' series led by Prof. Divya Cherian (History) and Dr. Harini Kumar (History/CGI).
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