Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi

Through ethnography of activist organisations promoting transparency, accountability and active citizenship, and comprising coalitions of the city’s middle classes and urban poor, this article explores the spaces in which activists from different social backgrounds meet and carry out their work. By...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Martin Webb
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud 2013-12-01
Series:South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3677
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spelling doaj-18b7e36a5fa848ff86abca08dd368b0a2021-02-09T13:08:34ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602013-12-01810.4000/samaj.3677Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in DelhiMartin WebbThrough ethnography of activist organisations promoting transparency, accountability and active citizenship, and comprising coalitions of the city’s middle classes and urban poor, this article explores the spaces in which activists from different social backgrounds meet and carry out their work. By locating the positions of meeting rooms, offices and activists’ homes in urban space, I open up a view of the everyday practices of grassroots governance initiatives aimed at producing shared citizenship. I show how Delhi’s social and spatial segregation requires that the working through of a politics of shared citizenship must necessarily take place outside, or in between, the city’s zones of exclusivity and exclusion. I also show how activist initiatives partially incorporate the urban poor into new regimes of governance and accountability by mirroring everyday processes of leadership and mediation.http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3677activismurban spaceDelhicitizenshipgovernance.
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Martin Webb
spellingShingle Martin Webb
Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
activism
urban space
Delhi
citizenship
governance.
author_facet Martin Webb
author_sort Martin Webb
title Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi
title_short Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi
title_full Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi
title_fullStr Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi
title_full_unstemmed Meeting at the Edges: Spaces, Places and Grassroots Governance Activism in Delhi
title_sort meeting at the edges: spaces, places and grassroots governance activism in delhi
publisher Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
series South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
issn 1960-6060
publishDate 2013-12-01
description Through ethnography of activist organisations promoting transparency, accountability and active citizenship, and comprising coalitions of the city’s middle classes and urban poor, this article explores the spaces in which activists from different social backgrounds meet and carry out their work. By locating the positions of meeting rooms, offices and activists’ homes in urban space, I open up a view of the everyday practices of grassroots governance initiatives aimed at producing shared citizenship. I show how Delhi’s social and spatial segregation requires that the working through of a politics of shared citizenship must necessarily take place outside, or in between, the city’s zones of exclusivity and exclusion. I also show how activist initiatives partially incorporate the urban poor into new regimes of governance and accountability by mirroring everyday processes of leadership and mediation.
topic activism
urban space
Delhi
citizenship
governance.
url http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3677
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