Paper short abstract

A 'resettlement colony' (slum clearance neighbourhood) is a site suffused with politics. This paper examines the politics and 'non-politics' of personhood and place through the everyday spatial practices of residents, as they have rebuilt their lives in a Delhi neighbourhood settled 35 years ago.

Paper long abstract

A 'resettlement colony' (slum clearance neighbourhood) is a site suffused with politics. The target of much development work, residents' relationships with NGOs, politicians and the state must also be cultivated to access public services. Yet, close-living spaces of the colony relationships with ones neighbours must also be attended to. This paper investigates the negotiation of politics, personhood and place through the everyday spatial and aesthetic practices of residents in a Delhi resettlement colony, settled 35 years ago. Understanding place as produced through a constellation of social relations it argues for the day-to-day practices of place-making to be given greater attention as part of the everyday practices of postcolonial self-making.