Mapping Urban Informality and Splintering Infrastructure of Bengaluru in Simon Lamouret’s The Alcazar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22452/Keywords:
comics; infrastructure; migrant workers; informality; BengaluruAbstract
The article, at the intersection of literary urban studies and comics studies, seeks to address urban informality and infrastructural splintering in Bengaluru, as represented in Simon Lamouret’s The Alcazar, a graphic novel that traces the lives of migrant workers at a construction site in Bengaluru. The text underscores the city’s urban infrastructure as dialectical and discriminatory, rendering migrants socio-economically vulnerable. While scholarship on urban informality has grown in recent years, literature on how graphic novels represent the relationship between migrant labour, infrastructure, and informality in contemporary Indian cities remains scarce. Drawing theoretical insights from Ananya Roy’s concept of informality, Henri Lefebvre’s concept of social production of space, and Thierry Groensteen’s work on comics form, the article explores the accelerating informalization of the city, revealing an urban condition in which migrant labour is simultaneously integrated and disintegrated within the city’s urban form. It argues that the graphic novel foregrounds spatial unevenness while rendering visible the labour and everyday experiences of migrant workers. It further examines the comics form’s interrogation of the informalities and splintering of cities like Bengaluru, highlighting migrant workers’ right to urban life. The article contributes to broader discussions on urban informality, infrastructure, and spatial inequality in contemporary Indian cities, demonstrating how graphic narratives can critically engage with and visualize these urban realities.
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