Part 1: Respond to the most relevant of the following questions regarding the New York Times article on Calcutta by Barbara Crossette. Please respond in 12 font, typed, spell-checked, proof-read, essay form; restrict your response to one page (single-spaced). Please use the themes and critical perspectives of this course to construct your essay.

1. What is the overall picture/image of Calcutta you get from reading this article? What issues does the author focus on?

2. What strategies does the author use to tell her particular story about Calcutta? (ex. stats, photos, interviews…others).

3. How does she use words and imagery to establish a specific representation of the city? What sorts of recurring themes appear in this representation of Calcutta?

4. Who is primarily represented in the photographs? Why do you think these particular photographs were chosen?

5. Who does the author quote and interview in the article? Do you think these people are living in the "Calcutta" that the author is representing in the article (and the "Calcutta" that appears in the photographs)? Why or why not?

6. What kind of argument does the author make about what is necessary for Calcutta to "develop"?

7. Who/what is blamed in the article for the "downfall" of Calcutta since the 1940s? And what is suggested as a potential solution to the situation?

8. What is being left out? What specifically do we know about India and Calcutta that is missing from this representation? Why does the exclusion of historical, political and economic processes make a difference in the way we understand people’s lived experiences in Calcutta?

** These are examples of the critical and analytical questions we encourage you to pursue when critiquing representations of the city/place on which you base your poster.

Part 2:  You are expected to attend section on the 20^th of January (the assignment due date) to participate in an in-class exercise based on your responses to the above questions.

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