Gopa Samanta – författare

An intimate glimpse into the microcosmic world of “hybrid landscapes” and their inhabitantsWith this book Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Gopa Samanta offer an intimate glimpse into the microcosmic world of “hybrid environments.” Focusing on chars—the part-land, part-water, low-lying sandy masses that exist within the riverbeds in the floodplains of lower Bengal—the authors show how, both as real-life examples and as metaphors, chars straddle the conventional categories of land and water, and how people who live on them fluctuate between legitimacy and illegitimacy. The result, a study of human habitation in the nebulous space between land and water, charts a new way of thinking about land, people, and people's ways of life.

What are the major hurdles they face in their day to day lives barring their emancipation?The main strength of the book lies in the in-depth grounded research in four small cities (Darjiling, Balurghat, Raniganj and Hugli-Chinsurah) using both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

What are the major hurdles they face in their day to day lives barring their emancipation?The main strength of the book lies in the in-depth grounded research in four small cities (Darjiling, Balurghat, Raniganj and Hugli-Chinsurah) using both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

This book presents commuting as a new paradigm in mobility studies in the context of global south. Besides the commuters, non-commuting passengers and hawkers in the train were also interviewed to understand the diverse perceptions of the process of commuting.