On 13 August 2025, Professor Arup K. Chatterjee spoke at Krea University on “Railways and the Historical Contours of India.” Drawing on cultural history, Jungian imagery, and the work of scholars such as Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Chatterjee traced how railway motifs—the “Imperial Bioscope,” the “Theatre,” the “Tourist Guide,” and the “Social Reformer”—have shaped popular and elite imaginations across successive fifty-year phases from the 1840s to the present.
The event was organized by Dr. Shilpi Singh (Assistant Professor of Political Science at Krea University). The lecture, moderated by Dr Aashique Ahmed Iqbal (Assistant Professor of History, SIAS, Krea University), explored the railway not only as a material technology of mobility but as a repertory of symbols that both register and produce shifting social desires and anxieties. Chatterjee drew links between the railroad’s physical infrastructure and its recurrent cultural archetypes, arguing that these symbolic clusters help explain the railway’s enduring role in India’s historical self-understanding.
The Krea University event reflects Chatterjee’s diverse repertoire of influential ideas from history, scholarly goodwill, public reach, and research into vivid, policy-relevant narratives for contemporary civic debates.
Further information about the event — including the original event listing — is available on Krea University’s events page: https://krea.edu.in/event/a-talk-on-railways-and-the-historical-contours-of-india-by-professor-arup-k-chatterjee/
For media or follow-up enquiries, please contact Professor Chatterjee via the contact page on his website.
Arup K. Chatterjee 