ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Ayona DattaSubscribe to Ayona Datta

Overlapping Marginalities

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that excessive reliance on digital technologies for delivery of education can sharpen the inequalities in learning. In Bhiwandi, both a metropolitan and a digital periphery in Maharashtra, such unequal learning opportunities further marginalised the citizens of the locality. Female students additionally faced several challenges. Among the many freedoms upended during the pandemic was the spatial mobility, offered by the physical access to the colleges. Where educational institutions failed to effectively adapt to the situation, undergraduate Muslim women experienced a lack of digital access and poor quality of learning.

Towards ‘Slow’ and ‘Moderated’ Urbanism

The city-building process in the global South is characterised by both the state and corporate-led production of “fast” cities. It is interesting to note that while many cities in the global North are moving towards alternative development regimes under the “slow city” movement, urban production in traditional societies of the global South is being enslaved to “speed.” The analysis of the changes being brought about in these cities reveals how alternative forms of development and social organisation—termed as slow cities, akin to slow food—can lead to more sustainable cities and “eurhythmia” in urban life.

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