Local Cosmopolitans: A Study of Barkas neighborhood in Hyderabad
Local Cosmopolitans: A Study of Barkas neighborhood in Hyderabad
Author(s): Cătălina-Ioana PavelSubject(s): History, Philosophy, Cultural history, General Reference Works, Geography, Regional studies, Regional Geography, Non-European Philosophy, Ethnohistory, History of ideas, Gender history, Indian Philosophy, Source Material
Published by: Presa Universitara Clujeana
Keywords: Barkas; Local Cosmopolitanism; Hadrami Community; Hyderabad; Yemen; Islamic Networks;
Summary/Abstract: Drawing from M. N. Pearson’s and Enseng Ho’s concept of “local cosmopolitanism,” I propose to study the neighborhood of Barkas in Hyderabad as a representation of how cosmopolitanism works in small communities where the people, while embedded in local relations, also maintain connections with distant places, thus articulating a relation between different geographical scales. Barkas is inhabited by people of an African origin, the Hadrami people from Hadramawt in Yemen, from where they came to Hyderabad to become part of the Nizam’s army. When they reached India, they were given land to build their own barracks (this is also how the neighborhood got its present name) and after the Nizam’s rule ended, most of them stayed back.
Journal: ROMANIAN JOURNAL OF INDIAN STUDIES
- Issue Year: 1/2022
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 43-58
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English