Mapping Spectral Cities

How do you map the myths, imaginations, aspirations, dreams, and nightmares of the city? How do these “soft” elements fit alongside the “hard city” of brick and mortar, sociology, demography, and statistics?

Sarnath Banerjee will work with students to explore spectral cities – urban forms and experiences and forms that have ghostly, “unreal” qualities – while also developing narratives about urban neighborhoods. After a preliminary introduction, participants will be invited to draw, map, use photographs and digital images, write poems on their impressions of this “soft city” of spectres, jinns and the otherworldly.

Sarnath Banerjee is a Short-Term Visiting Fellow in the Humanities Council, Department of History, and Program in South Asian Studies.