Itinerant Belonging

Along the coast of Gujarat, nineteenth-century merchant houses or havelis still stand in historic cities, connecting ports from Durban to Rangoon. In this ambitious and multifaceted work, Ketaki Pant uses these old spaces as a lens through which to view not only the vibrant stories of their occupants, but also the complex entanglements of Indian Ocean capitalism. These homes reveal new perspectives from colonized communities who were also major merchants, signifying ideas of family, race, gender, and religion, as well as representing ties to land. Employing concepts from feminist studies, colonial studies, and history, Pant argues that havelis provide a model for understanding colonial capitalism in the Indian Ocean as a spatial project. This is a rich exploration of both belonging and unbelonging and the ways they continue to shape individual and social identities today.