`` City Requiem, Calcutt Gender And The Politics Of...

Dreaming of Tombstones (133-188): A Summary and Critical Analysis of Gender Issues in â€Å"City Requiem, Calcutta: Gender and the Politics of Poverty, Volume 10† by Ananya Roy In Chapter 4, Roy (2008) defines the lack of city planning for the city of Calcutta as a way to understand the amorphous nature of land boundaries, settlements, and the lives that squatters live in this city. Shah’s story of the dreams of tombstones defines the new ways in which to interpret the hegemonic discourse of rigid land boundaries. Without an urban plan to develop stable living quarters in the city, it becomes obvious that the effects of poverty are being integrated into the chaotic and unorganized methods of housing developments meant for the working poor. This occurs through the premise of electoral politics that support impoverished populations that leads to an absence of land records and maps (Roy, 2008, p.138). In this manner, the Desakota Hypothesis should be re-defined due to the existence of squatter regions throughout Calcutta, which do not fall into the rigid framework of the urban and rural divide. This aspect of the â€Å"communist† politics of Calc utta is part of the new frontiers of land management, mapping, and boundaries that define the new squatter culture in India. The hegemonic process of political domination that preserves the disorganization of working populations and the settlements in which they live. The foundation for â€Å"urban informality† is defined by Roy (2008) as a means