The Para Project proposes to develop a living virtual space and a physical exhibit space for photographs, oral narratives, architectural inferences, old documents, and memorabilia of south Kolkata neighbourhoods. The project is ambitious in scope, considering the number and diversity of south Kolkata neighbourhoods in terms of demographics, built heritage, and by extension, people’s history of migration and settlement.
Para Project will provide a robust documentation of urban history, lived spaces and experiences, and architecture of the specific period in early- to mid-twentieth century when the South Kolkata neighbourhoods came into existence and began thriving. This period reflects a very specific time in Kolkata’s modern history and is a living representation of a fast-changing urban landscape that calls for preservation, at least in the form of a ‘memory box’ of digital, physical, and archival material.
The project will focus on two areas.
1: The area bounded by Rash Behari Avenue to the north, S. P. Mukherjee Road to the west, Southern Avenue and Sarat Chatterjee Avenue to the south, and Gariahat Road to the east.
2: The area bounded by Rash Behari Avenue to the north, Kankulia Road to the south, Ballygunge Railway Station to the east, and Gariahat road to the west.
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Institutional partners
India: The Centre for Studies in Social Science, (CSSSC) and The Jadunath Bhavan Museum & Resource Centre (JBMRC)
United Kingdom: Loughborough University
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People
India
Mohor Sengupta, PhD, Freelance researcher, writer, and consultant
Tapati Guha-Thakurta, D.Phil., Honourable Professor of History, CSSSC
Rajat Ray, MA, Professor Emeritus, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, University School of Architecture and Planning
United Kingdom
Robert Harland, PhD, Professor of Urban Graphic Heritage, Loughborough University
Michael Wilson, PhD, Professor of Drama, UNESCO Chair in Storytelling Education for Sustainability, and Director of the Storytelling Academy, Loughborough University
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Para: a Bengali term for close-knit neighbourhoods.