Representing Commodified Space

Abstract

Chapter 4 examines ways of representing space as a commodity that played key roles in colonial Delhi: maps, lease deeds, advertisements, and auctions. These representations were related to the buying and selling of real estate in distinct ways. At the same time, they also referred to and relied on each other to give effect to their pronouncements. Two elements ran through these disparate representations: connections between space and time, and the imbrication of state and property market. This chapter argues that the ability to utilize these representations of space to develop narratives about urban space was a critical constituent of state power.