Paper short abstract:

Relating to my fieldwork in town quarters in Morocco in 2009/10, I discuss everyday practices of women and the significance for the constitution of space. Opening and closing the house, looking, greeting, working and clothing are means to perform neighbourhood and experience belonging.

Paper long abstract:

Everyday practices in the town Kasba Tadla are taken as an example for experiences of belonging. Neighbourhood interactions centre on households and include mutual exchanges of attention, respect, support and goods. They are investigated as common practices. In line with Appadurai (1998) I see neighbourhoods as historically grounded and contextual, but they are not necessarily constituted in opposition to something else. In a Moroccan context, I suggest that neighbourhoods originate in the relations of the people living within it. These relations are connected to the social concepts of closeness and segmentation. Gendered space, processes of urbanization, migration and the emergence of a middle class also influence the perception of belonging.

Spatial practices in different parts of town vary considerably. The practices in the historical town centre and informal settlements build on daily exchanges of the people living next door. Borders of 'being at home' are blurred, they change from the house to the neighbourhood, with temporal and personal variations. Many women spend much time in front of the house with household chores and constantly watch and comment what is going on. Their children grow up in a community of households. Men mostly pass through, but take part in networks of mutual help. In planned town quarters the doors tend to be closed, also during daytime. In front of the house the bodily presence of women and children decreases. Neighbourhood in such town quarters is performed less extensive, gendered space diminishes and the importance of social contacts outside the neighbourhood increases.