Contested heritage sites – rethinking methodology and practice: The case of the

former Union Carbide site in Bhopal, India.

Amritha Ballal1, Thomas Brandt2, Jan af Geijerstam3, Moulshri Joshi4, Bosse Lagerqvist5,
Diana Walters6

In December 1984 there was a gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal,
India. As many as 25,000 deaths have been attributed to the disaster and officially more than
500,000 were injured. After the disaster the factory site was abandoned, partly heavily
contaminated, and till this day causing an on-going disaster. As well as a physical legacy, it
constitutes a source of contested memories and reminders of a difficult past.
The authors of this paper are preparing a research project on the memorialization of the
Bhopal gas tragedy, critically examining dominant methods of preservation, conservation,
interpretation and management of the industrial remains. The objectives are to outline cross-
disciplinary and trans-discursive concepts through inclusive management of contested
heritage sites, based theoretical platforms seeking to overarch the boundaries between
museum, heritage and conservation discourses.
For more than a quarter of century survivors have waged a struggle for compensation and
economic rehabilitation, for health care and clean water, for environmental remediation and
legal retribution. They have also demanded commemoration of the tragedy along with the
preservation of the industrial remains of the factory. Construction of heritage should take into
account the active participation of local people, but in Bhopal this is difficult to define. The
long drawn out struggle between the state and activists has fragmented society into multiple
survivor groups, activists, supporters, deniers and a larger population that remains largely
untouched but still affected by the tragedy through its association with their city.
The paper discusses why methods like oral history, field observation and archival studies have
to be rethought in a complex case like Bhopal, where the conflict still is alive, the availability
of historical sources are unsecure, and the role of the researcher is highly sensitive. Through
analyzing the contested heritages of Bhopal the paper will explore its relevance for inclusive
heritage management in general.

1
Space Matters, New Delhi, India
2
Department of Historical and Classical Studies, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
Norway
3
Guest researcher, Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
4
School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi, India
5
Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
6
Cultural Heritage without Boarders, Stockholm, Sweden