Unsettling Utopia

Ari Gautier, author of Le Thinnai:
Jessica Namakkal’s excellent book reveals hidden layers of Pondicherry’s feigned decolonization and ongoing recolonization. This tour de force is the kind of book you don't want to finish; it keeps you right on the edge of your seat, avidly turning the pages for more.

Danna Agmon, author of A Colonial Affair: Commerce, Conversion, and Scandal in French India:
Exploring the decolonization of French India, Namakkal's lucid and innovative book brings together the history of state-led decolonization and the creation of utopias to reveal how both projects relied on regimes of labor, erasure, and territorial expansion that had much in common with the colonizing project. Engaging, ambitious, and deeply researched, Unsettling Utopia brings new and important insights to our understanding of the temporal boundaries of colonialism and decolonization.