#LivefromLucy: '20th Century Cities: Reflections from the global south' with Professor Sunalini Kumar

Wed 10 November 2021

Lucy Cavendish College

Professor Kumar's talk will examine histories of city-planning and city-building in diverse cultural and political settings of the long 20th century, pointing out surprising overlaps and resonances in ideas of a 'global urban' or the 'world class city' or the 'national capital' cutting across North and South, East and West. Thus, Teheran, New York, New Delhi, Canberra and Brasilia have more in common than we realise. She will also make a case for looking more closely at the global circulation of planning expertise in the 20th century, highlighting both the hopes and disappointments of these often grandiose visions of urbanisation. Professor Kumar will conclude with some speculations on what these visions have meant for those of us who live and work in the global south.

About the speaker

Professor Sunalini Kumar is Associate Professor, School of Global Affairs, AUD. Previously she taught political science at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University. Educated at Cambridge University, Delhi University and JNU, Professor Kumar has previously been Visiting Fellow at CSDS, Delhi and Fulbright Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University, New York. At Lucy Cavendish College she read Social and Political Sciences as an affiliated BA student and a Chevening scholar.

Professor Kumar's research interests centre around urban and regional politics; gender and political theory; and the global south. Her publications are included in Critical Studies in Politics: Sites, Selves, Power (Delhi, Orient Blackswan 2013) and Urbanising Citizenship (Delhi, London and Thousand Oaks, Sage 2013).

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Cost: Free