Reminder: Amartya Sen
Here's a reminder for those in New York to attend tonight's annual Lewis Mumford lecture of the Urban Design Program at City College. Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen will talk about the Urbanity of Calcutta. Click image for larger view, details.
Could you describe the lecture?
ReplyDeleteam - Sen spoke about Calcutta in terms of its geographical location and the reason behind its location (trading, military, etc.), though he focused on why people who could live in other places choose to live there, amongst the poverty and filth. One person he mentioned was Satyajit Ray, who lives there and set most of his films there. I've never seen any of his films, though Sen mentioned how -- even though Ray's films are melancholy, unhappy affairs -- they have stories that don't feature the Hollywood-esque villain/here dichotomy, which some Indian films do use, like Salaam Bombay. So even though Calcutta is presented as a pretty depressing place, it's presented as a place that isn't at the mercy of a "villain"; things wouldn't be better without that villain ruling things. Basically, it's a democracy. And Sen's conclusion reiterated that: people choose to live in Calcutta because of the freedom and tolerance. He still wants to deal with the poverty there, but he's intrigued by rich people choosing to live in a place so diffused with poverty.
ReplyDeleteIt was videotaped, so it should be on CUNY TV someday and hopefully online. I'll notify/update whenever those happen.