CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Sharma, Srushti |
|---|---|
| Title | Translating Nostalgia in Contemporary Delhi: Representations of Tawaifs and Experience of Rickshaw-Pullers |
| Summary | This thesis tries to apply the emotion of nostalgia, which has no Hindi equivalent to the context of Contemporary Delhi. It is an attempt to demonstrate the centrality of social class in the conceptualization of the emotion and generation of different affective responses. Svetlana Boym’s categorization of restorative and reflective nostalgia, that was developed in the Eastern European context seems to hold little value in contemporary Delhi. Instead, I offer alternative explanations, describing the interplay of nostalgia, commodification, and informal labor precarity in the context of two marginalized groups: tawaifs and the rickshaw-pullers. While translating the emotion of nostalgia into the context of contemporary Delhi, I give primacy to the historical processes that have shaped the contemporary form of nostalgia, as experienced and aspired by different social classes. |
| Supervisor | Esmer, Tolga U; Horváth, Alíz. |
| Department | Historical Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/sharma_srushti.pdf |
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