Uncomfortable heritage in the postcolonial city: an ethnography of memory and imperial space

Drawing on nearly 2 years of qualitative fieldwork involving interviews, informal conversations, and spatial observations, this article explores the striking absence of public discomfort towards imperial monuments in postcolonial states. Taking Lutyens’ Delhi as its empirical focus, it demonstrates how material remnants of imperialism have been normalised and embraced as national heritage in postcolonial India. What began as an inquiry into public responses to the 2019 Central Vista redevelopment evolved into a broader examination of Lutyens’ Delhi as a celebrated symbol of nationhood despite its origins in domination and exclusivity. The concept of uncomfortable heritage helps frame this paradox, which is further developed by conceptualising the area as a contested field of memory. The analysis identifies three forms of memory works – appeals to institutional authority, aesthetic valuation, and affective detachment – that mediate public engagement with imperial space and facilitate the selective absorption of colonial histories. To unsettle the apparent naturalisation of these processes, the paper finally introduces Dharōhara as an indigenous conceptual counterpoint to Eurocentric heritage discourse, foregrounding alternative ethical relationships to the past that exceed preservationist and aesthetic logics.