Negotiating Muslimness and Informality: Jamia Millia Islamia and the Making of Jamia Nagar

This study examines the dynamics of Jamia Millia Islamia, a Public University, and Jamia Nagar, an unauthorized (informal) Muslim majority settlement in Delhi, India. By constructing a spatio-temporal trajectory of Jamia Millia Islamia and its precincts over a 100-year period, I investigate its evolution, the departure from the University Settlement to University and the informal settlement and their inter-linkages. The study employs an evidence-based approach, utilizing archival data, historical anecdotes, secondary literature, and open-ended, semi-structured field interviews.

Building upon the extant literature on universities as anchor institutions, I demonstrate the changing roles and the causal relationship of the University and community, from philanthropy to shared values and place-based initiatives to cutting down on extension of material resources. Based on the analysis, I situate the University in five thematic roles in its interaction with the space and people—University as the land developer, University as employment generator and multiplier, University as a community (Jamia Biradari), University as the locus for Muslim educated middle-class concentration, and University as political site.

Through this study, I conceptualize Jamia Millia Islamia as an unconventional and multifaceted urban actor, creating an overarching Muslim sanctuary and providing tacit patronage and legitimacy to the production of Jamia Nagar amidst India’s shifting political landscape. I argue that this unique positionality stems from the University’s historical ideological mission, thereby resulting in a Muslim space distinct from conventional Muslim spaces in India. Moreover, this case highlights the role of anchor institutions in inadvertently supporting urban informality. These findings contribute to universities’ capacity to shape urban development trajectories beyond educational and economic impact, and particularly in contexts of informality and socio-political complexity.