Stories of migrants building precarious futures through ingenuity, desire, obligation, and resilienceIndia’s cities depend on millions of rural migrants whose labor sustains urban life. City Lives, Rural Ties brings their overlooked stories into focus through vivid portraits of migrants who have forged footholds in cities such as Delhi and Hyderabad while remaining strongly connected to rural homes.Neither the most privileged nor the most destitute, they occupy an often-ignored middle ground. Vinay Gidwani and Priti Ramamurthy call them “middle migrants”: people who balance unstable urban livelihoods with enduring obligations to family and community in the countryside. They navigate uncertain work, precarious housing, and shifting aspirations while sustaining complex networks of care and support that stretch between village and city.The stories illuminate dreams of dignity, education, and independence along with the daily improvisations required by the informal economy. Women’s strategies for maneuvering emerge as especially powerful threads. Combining ethnographic insight with compelling storytelling, City Lives, Rural Ties offers a deeply human portrait of lives lived between places, possibilities, and responsibilities.

The central Gujarat region of western India is home to the entrepreneurial landowning Patel caste who have leveraged their rural dominance to become a powerful global diaspora of merchants, industrialists, and professionals. Investigating the Patels’ intriguing ascent, Vinay Gidwani analyzes its broad implications for the nature of labor and capital worldwide.  With the Patels as his central case, Gidwani interrogates established concepts of value, development, and the relationship between capital and history. Capitalism, he argues, is not a frame of economic organization based on the smooth, consistent operation of a series of laws, but rather an assemblage of contingent and interrupted logics stitched together into the appearance of a deus ex machina. Following this line of thinking, Gidwani points to ways in which political economy might be freed of its lingering Eurocentrism, raises questions about the adequacy of postcolonial studies’ critique of Marx and capitalism, and opens the possibility of situating capitalism as a geographically uneven social formation in which different normative or value-creating practices are imperfectly sutured together in ways that can equally impair and enable profit and accumulation. Both theoretically astute and empirically informed, Capital, Interrupted unsettles encrusted understandings of staple concepts within the human sciences such as hegemony, governmentality, caste, and agency and, ultimately, does nothing less than rethink the very constitution of capitalism. Vinay Gidwani is associate professor of geography and global studies at the University of Minnesota.

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts.

Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyond Spans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial world Builds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts. Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyondSpans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial worldBuilds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts. Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyondSpans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial worldBuilds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts.

Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyond Spans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial world Builds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

Tracking Bengaluru’s dramatic urban transformation through the entanglements of finance, land frenzy, real estate volatility, and livelihood upheavalsOver the past two decades, Bengaluru’s exploding real estate sector and massive infrastructure investments have led to land speculation targeting working-class neighborhoods and agricultural land for development. Chronicles of a Global City turns Bengaluru inside out to examine its “world-city” transformation that stimulated rapid urbanization and unbounded growth. Moving the spotlight away from the urban elites and “new middle class,” this book explores how people caught up in the whirlwinds of change in Bengaluru-from construction laborers, street vendors, domestic workers, and platform delivery workers to small-time property brokers, petty landlords, and local politicians-experience, struggle, aspire, invent, strive, and speculate to make a livable city for themselves. Grounded in long-term ethnographic research and activist experiences, Chronicles of a Global City vividly illuminates the multifaceted entanglements of finance capital, real estate markets, livelihood struggles, and fraying ecologies in urban and peri-urban Bengaluru. Its anchoring concept, “speculative urbanism,” provides a powerful, innovative lens for understanding the risk-laden practices of leveraging land, labor, and resources for the promise of future profit. Contributors: Hemangini Gupta, Pierre Hauser, Priyanka Krishna, Eesha Kunduri, Kaveri Medappa, Usha Rao, Shaheen Shasa, Swathi Shivanand, Vinay K. Sreenivasa.

Stories of migrants building precarious futures through ingenuity, desire, obligation, and resilienceIndia’s cities depend on millions of rural migrants whose labor sustains urban life. City Lives, Rural Ties brings their overlooked stories into focus through vivid portraits of migrants who have forged footholds in cities such as Delhi and Hyderabad while remaining strongly connected to rural homes.Neither the most privileged nor the most destitute, they occupy an often-ignored middle ground. Vinay Gidwani and Priti Ramamurthy call them “middle migrants”: people who balance unstable urban livelihoods with enduring obligations to family and community in the countryside. They navigate uncertain work, precarious housing, and shifting aspirations while sustaining complex networks of care and support that stretch between village and city.The stories illuminate dreams of dignity, education, and independence along with the daily improvisations required by the informal economy. Women’s strategies for maneuvering emerge as especially powerful threads. Combining ethnographic insight with compelling storytelling, City Lives, Rural Ties offers a deeply human portrait of lives lived between places, possibilities, and responsibilities.

The central Gujarat region of western India is home to the entrepreneurial landowning Patel caste who have leveraged their rural dominance to become a powerful global diaspora of merchants, industrialists, and professionals. Investigating the Patels’ intriguing ascent, Vinay Gidwani analyzes its broad implications for the nature of labor and capital worldwide.  With the Patels as his central case, Gidwani interrogates established concepts of value, development, and the relationship between capital and history. Capitalism, he argues, is not a frame of economic organization based on the smooth, consistent operation of a series of laws, but rather an assemblage of contingent and interrupted logics stitched together into the appearance of a deus ex machina. Following this line of thinking, Gidwani points to ways in which political economy might be freed of its lingering Eurocentrism, raises questions about the adequacy of postcolonial studies’ critique of Marx and capitalism, and opens the possibility of situating capitalism as a geographically uneven social formation in which different normative or value-creating practices are imperfectly sutured together in ways that can equally impair and enable profit and accumulation. Both theoretically astute and empirically informed, Capital, Interrupted unsettles encrusted understandings of staple concepts within the human sciences such as hegemony, governmentality, caste, and agency and, ultimately, does nothing less than rethink the very constitution of capitalism. Vinay Gidwani is associate professor of geography and global studies at the University of Minnesota.

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts.

Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyond Spans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial world Builds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts. Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyondSpans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial worldBuilds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts. Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyondSpans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial worldBuilds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

An international group of distinguished scholars pay homage to and build on the work of one of the most influential thinkers of our time, Michael Watts.

Shows how Michael Watts’ research, writings, teaching and mentoring have relentlessly pushed boundaries, transforming his chosen field of geography and beyond Spans an array of topics including the political economy and ecology of African societies, governmentality and territoriality in various Southern contexts, food security, cultural materialist expositions of capitalism, modernity and development across the postcolonial world Builds on his legacy, exploring its theoretical, analytical, and empirical implications and proposing exciting new possibilities for further exploration in the tracks of Watts

Tracking Bengaluru’s dramatic urban transformation through the entanglements of finance, land frenzy, real estate volatility, and livelihood upheavalsOver the past two decades, Bengaluru’s exploding real estate sector and massive infrastructure investments have led to land speculation targeting working-class neighborhoods and agricultural land for development. Chronicles of a Global City turns Bengaluru inside out to examine its “world-city” transformation that stimulated rapid urbanization and unbounded growth. Moving the spotlight away from the urban elites and “new middle class,” this book explores how people caught up in the whirlwinds of change in Bengaluru-from construction laborers, street vendors, domestic workers, and platform delivery workers to small-time property brokers, petty landlords, and local politicians-experience, struggle, aspire, invent, strive, and speculate to make a livable city for themselves. Grounded in long-term ethnographic research and activist experiences, Chronicles of a Global City vividly illuminates the multifaceted entanglements of finance capital, real estate markets, livelihood struggles, and fraying ecologies in urban and peri-urban Bengaluru. Its anchoring concept, “speculative urbanism,” provides a powerful, innovative lens for understanding the risk-laden practices of leveraging land, labor, and resources for the promise of future profit. Contributors: Hemangini Gupta, Pierre Hauser, Priyanka Krishna, Eesha Kunduri, Kaveri Medappa, Usha Rao, Shaheen Shasa, Swathi Shivanand, Vinay K. Sreenivasa.