WETS_India_2011

WENDY EVANS TRAVELING SCHOLARSHIP
CAUGHT IN THE TIDE
SUBMERSION & MARGINALIZATION IN MODERN INDIA
KATHERINE JONES
SUMMER 2011
Established in 1999 by Wendy Evans Joseph, Class of 1977, the purpose of
the Wendy Evans Joseph Traveling Scholarship is to support summer travel
to study the natural and built environment in any region of the world.
The scholarship is awarded each May to juniors in the undergraduate Major in
Architecture on the basis of a competitive application process. The scholarship
recipients are required to document their study in the form of a photographic
essay submitted upon the completion of travel.
The Undergraduate Program in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania
is a studio-based liberal arts and sciences program in the College of Arts & Sciences.
In addition to the general requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree, the Major in Architecture
includes a six-semester studio sequence and two theory courses, taught by faculty in the
Department of Architecture in the School of Design, and four courses in the history of art and
architecture, taught by faculty in the Department of the History of Art in the School of Arts &
Sciences. The program offers an Intensive Major, with seniors enrolling in graduate-level
technology courses, a Minor in Architecture, a Minor in Design,
and a summer program for high-school students.
For more information on the program and examples
of students’ work in the undergraduate design studios visit:
www.architecture.sas.upenn.edu
Richard Wesley
Undergraduate Chair, Architecture
rwesley@design.upenn.edu
Book design: Sarah Beth McKay
(cover) A man walks among rice paddies in the
village of Pakhiralaya, located on the eastern
edge of Gosaba island in the Sunderbans.
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Defined more by its plurality than by any overarching
set of principles, India is a country of
immense complexity. The last several decades
have given rise to rapid economic, environmental,
and cultural transformation. Particularly impacted
are the marginalized members of India’s
distinct regional cultures, who often struggle to
reposition themselves amid shifting ground.
In this context, architecture’s greatest contribution
stems from its ability to simultaneously
anticipate and mediate change while remaining
closely attuned to the material and subjective
forces that both underlie and resist cultural
transmutation
My desire to explore architecture in this capacity
led me to the Sunderbans delta, located
on the southeast coast of India, bordering
Bangladesh. More than four million people
inhabit this region, with a half million dwelling
in poor coastal populations on small islands
formed by the numerous tributaries that
crisscross the land. Situated here is the largest
mangrove forest in the world, which, along with
the delta, supports one of the planet’s most
unique ecosystems and shelters the greatest
concentration of Royal Bengal tigers in India.
In recent decades, rising sea levels and the effects
of climate change have begun to threaten
the region’s habitability, leaving the future of its
human occupants progressively uncertain.
Change and adaptability are the primary forces
driving life in this little known area of the world.
I dedicated my fellowship to exploration of
these forces, hoping to understand how they
inform the intangible and idiosyncratic societal
character of the Sunderban people. Through
this lens, I aimed to discover what stands to
be lost should they be forced to abandon the
region that directly shaped their culture .
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ITINERARY
New Delhi, Delhi (6 days, split in two)
Chandigarh (3 days)
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh (4 days)
Manali, Himachal Pradesh (5 days)
Kolkata, West Bengal (1 week)
Sunderbans, West Bengal (2 weeks)
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THE SUNDERBANS
(previous spread) A mud levee is relocated
further inland after storms and steadily rising
sea levels eroded the original embankment to
the point of inadequacy.
(left) Hand-hewn country boats are the primary
form of transportation between the delta’s fiftyfour
inhabited islands.
(below) Villagers wait to be ferried to a neighboring
island.
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A long history of habitation has produced a
strong regional identity linked directly to the
ecosystem and natural forces of the delta. Villagers
have developed a rhythmic relationship
to the land, using its bounty to farm, fish, and
harvest prized honey from deep within the mangrove
forests. The yearly monsoon rains add
another dimension of complexity to this region,
dictating the activities, culture, and livelihoods
of the coastal inhabitants
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Tidy mud & thatch homes with adjacent water
collection pools typify the village of Pakhiralaya,
one of scores like it scattered throughout the
region’s inhabited islands.
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Island culture is characterized by an implicit
commitment to honor and sustain the interdependence
of community, valuing reciprocity and
the preservation of strong civic and familial ties.
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(far right) Neighbors gather for a gasoline
generator-powered movie break after lunch.
(right) Island youth.

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The people of the Sunderbans, so reliant on
the river, the mangrove, and the monsoon are
faced with a conflicting reality; they alternately
depend on, and are at the mercy of the water
gradually permeating the region. At stake is not
only the physical submersion of land and solvency
of the regional economy, but the culture
of a people, their rituals, myths, and way of life.
(top) A home lies abandoned and partially
submerged following a breach in the levee
behind it.
(bottom) A newly constructed dike is reinforced
with wood poles and sandbags. In the foreground
an earlier fortification lies in ruin.
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(previous spread) A woman walks along the
embankment that protects her village from
encroaching water levels.
(below) A group of women return to Pakhiralaya
after working day jobs in Gosaba, the largest
village in the Sunderbans.
(right) Most women in the region eek out a
small income fishing for shrimp and crab, a
dangerous venture in the delta’s crocodileinfested
waters.
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Fishing for shrimp at low tide.
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While the Sunderbans offers abundant natural
resources, obtaining them often involves great
risk. Fishermen, wood, and honey collectors
must travel to uninhabited areas of the mangrove
forest to harvest their goods. Tiger and
crocodile attacks are a common occurrence
on tide-washed riverbanks and in the dense
underbrush of the forest.

(below) Restricted by permit, fishing is allowed
in some protected areas of the Sunderbans
National Park. Hoping for a decent catch, locals,
like these fishermen, spend up to a week
working and living on small country boats deep
in the sanctuary.
(below left) Villagers throughout the Sunderbans
convene at a different location every week
to buy goods at the region’s island-hopping fish
market.
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Bearing the scars of attack as testimony, this
Moule (honey collector) is one of the lucky few
to survive an encounter with a Royal Bengal
tiger.
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The people of the Sunderban readily acknowledge
their vulnerability to the powerful forces of
the natural world. Over hundreds of years, this
acute awareness has spawned a rich tradition
of folklore and mythology that both transcends
and entwines disparate religious beliefs.
Hindus and Muslims alike respect and worship
the same gods, most importantly those of the
forest, river, and tiger.
(previous spread) A riverboat navigates one of
the narrow channels in the buffer zone of the
Sunderbans National Park, just outside the core
of the Tiger Reserve’s protected area.
(below) A depiction of the principle deities
revered in the unique folklore and mythology of
the Sunderbans.
(right) A Forest Department employee stands
outside a shrine to Bonobibi at the Dobanki
camp in the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve.
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A villager displays a protective amulet worn by
men who work in the mangrove forest. Each
wax-sealed amulet contains an inscription with
holy words blessed by a Muslim shaman or
Hindu gunin and is believed to safeguard its
wearer from the dangers of the forest.
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(right) Although a rare occurrence, the thrill of a
possible tiger sighting draws a steady trickle of
adventurous travelers to the Sunderbans yearround.
A handful of locals offer guided riverboat
tours of the delta’s meandering waterways.
(next spread) Girindra, who has worked in the
forest most of his life fishing and honey collecting,
and his granddaughter.
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KOLKATA
As residents of a large metropolis, Kolkata’s
population faces a different set of challenges
than those experienced by the people of the
Sunderbans. A profound commonality, however,
is rooted in the resilience and resourcefulness
demonstrated by the most marginalized members
of each society.
(previous spread) The Victoria Memorial
(far left) The crumbling architecture of the British
Raj, ubiquitous in Kolkata, stands as a striking
counterpoint to the dynamism of West Bengal’s
capital city.
(left) Such contrast is evident throughout the city.
Here, the Howrah Bridge looms over a centuryold
bathhouse on the Hooghly River.
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An ornate building facade is overwhelmed by a
congested agglomeration of power lines.
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(right) Often unemployed and desperate,
resourceful slum-dwellers sift through the
city’s garbage for recyclable materials. Once
collected, different elements are painstakingly
sorted and sold for pennies on the dollar to various
industries for reuse.
(below) A man picks through Kolkata’s Municipal
landfill, searching for items of even the
smallest marginal value.
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(far left) A highly skilled but meagerly paid
sculptor is surrounded by statues produced for
the celebration of countless Hindu rituals and
festivals.
(left) A street merchant makes use of the liminal
space between two large storefronts.
(below) Election graffiti promoting a candidate
from the anti-capitalist, anti-globalist Communist
Party of India (Marxist).
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(previous spread) Located in the Himalayan
foothills, Shimla, like the Sunderbans is threatened
by the consequences of climate change.
Intensifying monsoon rains cause frequent land
and mudslides that destroy settlements precariously
situated on the region’s steep slopes.
(above) Chai tea is served in small clay cups.
(right) Stained glass windows open onto
dramatic views of mountain elevations.
(far right) Christ Church presides over the Mall
at the center of town.
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SHIMLA
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