Neighborhood of Gods: The Sacred and the Visible at the Margins of Mumbai

In Mumbai, local gods and guardian spirits share the streets with the people. In The Neighborhood of Gods, William Elison examines the link between territory and divinity in the city. He explores how a marginalized community can make its gods visible and powerful in the eyes of others through visual and spatial practices such as shrine construction, "tribal art," and image production at Bollywood film studios.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 10 December 2018
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

In India, there are numerous revered cities, but Mumbai is not typically regarded as one of them. More well-known representations of the city capture the world's collective imagination—as a Bollywood fantasy or a slumland dystopia. However, for many, if not most, people who live in the city, the local streets are indeed shared with local gods and guardian spirits.

The Neighborhood of Gods, by William Elison, delves into the relationship between territory and divinity in India's most self-consciously modern city. In this densely populated environment, space is scarce, and anxiety about housing is pervasive. Consecrating space—first with impromptu displays and then, eventually, with full-blown temples and official recognition—is one way of staking a claim. But how can a marginalized community make its gods visible, and therefore powerful, in the eyes of others?

The Neighborhood of Gods explores this question, bringing an ethnographic lens to a range of visual and spatial practices: from the shrine construction that encroaches on downtown streets, to the "tribal art" practices of an indigenous group facing displacement, to the work of image production at two Bollywood film studios. A pioneering ethnography, this book offers a creative intervention in debates on postcolonial citizenship, urban geography, and visuality in the religions of India.

Weight: 414g
Dimension: 225 x 164 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226494906