Urban Dwelling: An Examination of Livelihoods, Spaces and Systems in Calcutta
Translated title
Urban Dwelling
Author
Andersen, Line Cecilie
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2019
Submitted on
2019-05-31
Pages
57
Abstract
This thesis examines urban dwelling by providing an ethnographic account of people living in public spaces in Calcutta, India, asking what underpins their livelihoods and how this challenges conventional views of marginalized urban spaces. Based on eight weeks of fieldwork at Sealdah Railway Station and surrounding areas, the study uses participant observation and semi-structured interviews within a relational, post-structural frame of assemblage thinking, engaging concepts of marginalization, agency, networks, urban governance, informal economies and informality. The analysis shows that Sealdah Station is co-constructed by passengers, station workers and dwellers whose everyday interactions form networks of exchange: dwellers meet others’ needs and, in return, access food, money and safety. These interactions produce informal systems for managing station resources, with both the station and the dwellers understood as resources, so that the space provides shelter, work and protection and integrates dwellers into social and economic life. Similar patterns appear across the city. The findings therefore complicate dominant portrayals of homeless residents as isolated enclaves, suggesting that in Calcutta public spaces can operate as sites of interaction and mutual support rather than exclusion.
Dette speciale undersøger urban dwelling ved at give en etnografisk skildring af mennesker, der bor i offentlige rum i Calcutta, og spørger, hvad der understøtter deres livsgrundlag, samt hvordan dette udfordrer gængse forståelser af marginaliserede byrum. På baggrund af otte ugers feltarbejde på Sealdah Station og i nærområder anvender studiet deltagerobservation og semistrukturerede interviews inden for en relationel, poststrukturalistisk ramme af assemblage-tænkning, og inddrager begreber som marginalisering, handlekraft, netværk, urban styring, uformelle økonomier og informalitet. Analysen viser, at Sealdah Station sam-skabes af passagerer, stationsarbejdere og beboere, hvis hverdagsinteraktioner danner udvekslingsnetværk: beboerne dækker andres behov og får til gengæld adgang til mad, penge og tryghed. Disse interaktioner skaber uformelle systemer til at forvalte stationens ressourcer, hvor både stationen og beboerne forstås som ressourcer, således at rummet tilbyder ly, arbejde og beskyttelse og integrerer beboerne i sociale og økonomiske strukturer. Lignende mønstre ses i resten af byen. Resultaterne nuancerer derfor de dominerende fremstillinger af hjemløse som isolerede enklaver og peger på, at offentlige rum i Calcutta kan fungere som steder for interaktion og gensidig støtte frem for udelukkelse.
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