City of Men

"This book can be insightful for readers from varied fields interested in developing deeper and nuanced understanding of power relationships in city spaces." (Sociological Forum) "Chowdhury pushes the literary envelope by revealing how societal moral expectations from men (and women) influence the everyday gestures of conflict and cooperation on public transportation and, through that, how patriarchal structures prevail or thrive in a city. . . . City of Men is a thought-provoking, interdisciplinary read. Scholars, urban practitioners, and policymakers committed to reimagining equitable urban spaces will find its insights invaluable." (Journal of the American Planning Association)

“City Of Men offers a dazzling view of the social life of public transport in Kolkata. Combining conceptual flair with ethnographic luminosity, Chowdhury plunges us headlong into the city’s streets to explain how masculine subjectivities are made and unmade through the warp and weft of everyday encounters.”

- David Bissell (author of Transit Life: How Commuting is Transforming Our Cities) "Romit Chowdhury's City of Men examines the ways men occupy public space in Kolkata in this important new study. Chowdhury analyzes the relationship between masculinity, heterosexuality, and mobility in Kolkata with rich accounts, painting a picture of the gendered nature of trust and mobility in public space in visceral detail." - Tristan Bridges (co-author of Exploring Masculinities: Identity, Inequality, Continuity and Change) "Given the extent to which it is men that steer circulations through dense urban fabrics, how little we understand about what is on their minds, nor how their practices gender the city. Chowdhury brilliantly explores how male transport workers curate specific atmospheres of movement, responding to changing urban conditions and creating an often confounding politics of navigation." - AbdouMaliq Simone (author of The Surrounds: Urban Life Within and Beyond Capture)