On Farmers’ Protest in India / Sarover Zaidi

Architecture Off-Centre

Three farm laws passed by the Parliament of India in 2020 received major pushback from farmers around the country - with many of them mobilizing in Punjab and heading to the capital New Delhi. The protest site at the border village of Singhu outside Delhi turned into a mini-city of sorts with the Sikh farmers operating community kitchens and serving meals to thousands of people every day, including the policemen watching over the very barricades that restricted their entry into Delhi.

Sarover Zaidi is a philosopher and a social anthropologist, who currently teaches at the Jindal School of Art and Architecture. She works at the intersections of critical theory, anthropology, art, architecture and material culture studies. Sarover has extensively worked on religious architecture, and urbanism in the city of Bombay and currently co-runs a site on writing the city called Chiragh Dilli (https://chiraghdilli.wordpress.com).

Her essay on food, cooking and the protest: https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/survivance/412221/the-gift-of-food/