ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the conundrum as it has unfolded in the social space of DakshinaChitra. DakshinaChitra is a material exemplar of the affectively charged fields associated with neoliberal nostalgia, borrowing from Renato Rosaldo, as a mourning for that which is lost in processes of neoliberal globalisation. The chapter begins by situating DakshinaChitra within globalising suburban spaces of Chennai's hinterland and focuses on to the specific pasts that DakshinaChitra mediates and the forms of consumer-citizenship that underwrite those pasts. It argues that DakshinaChitra embodies the conflicted intimacy between the nostalgia that restructuring engenders and roles that new exhibitionary complexes play in the expanding service sectors that have been hallmarks of neoliberal transformation. DakshinaChitra's very existence is indicative of the gentrification that has transformed Chennai's hinterland. DakshinaChitra's international notoriety has often eclipsed its local profile. Coverage in Chennai's English-language press has expanded since its opening, as has visitation. DakshinaChitra's design and its mediation have arisen within a world of global consumer practice.
