Mapping campuses as an archetype of “non-places” through a study of select Indian campus fictions

Abstract

College campuses imbibe the empirical trends of social life: network societies, social divisions, and fantasies of opulence where the forces of global capital interact within the campuses. This paper understands the “market logic” as in Augéan non-places, an archetype of frontier-less ontology that has evolved like a rhizome within the college campuses. Auge’s Non-Places are ephemeral, sans frontiers, governed by audio-visual technology, and find their existence on the campuses in its commodified capacity of brand logos, internet connectivity, hypermediated consumption, cafés, commerce, cash machines, and transitory relationships. The theoretical framework speculates campuses as ontological spaces bereft of conventional demarcations, intricately bourgeoning institutionally akin to the rhizomatic presence. The present analysis scrutinizes the pivotal role played by the imperatives of global capital and market dynamics with the aim of furnishing educational campuses and making them Augean non-places. Employing literary-discourse analysis, this idea has been interrogated through the study of three Indian Campus Fictions (elite institutes) to explore the campuses of Indian Institutes of Technology as Augéan non-places through the lens of brand, US life, and relationships that attest further to the porosity, fragility, and the customized nature; all-encompassing the campuses as places of commerce, true to Augéan non-places.