Place Matters: Behind Neighbourhood Lines
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Place Matters: Behind neighbourhood lines A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Ana Luísa Mourão Department of Anthropology School of Social Sciences Brunel University September 2013 Abstract Flows of transnational movements and communications continue to grow in the world today, whilst simultaneously the importance of physical proximity, mobility restrictions and spatial attachments continue to persist, even for mobile populations themselves. The fact that circulation and immobility are both enmeshed in migrants' life experiences creates challenges for analysis of how people relate to local places, and how 'place' can be theorised in the social sciences. This problematic lies at the heart of my research, which examines how second-generation Cape Verdean migrants rehoused in Topia (pseudonym), an urban council estate near Lisbon (Portugal), constitute and relate to their 'neighbourhood' as a meaningful place. Based on fourteen months of participant observation in 2010-2011, complemented by life stories and institutional interviews, this research focuses on how Topia and its boundaries are socially forged by neighbourhood residents, visitors and the wider society, and what complex meanings and effects these demarcation lines have for Topia's inhabitants. I discuss local neighbour relations, morals and cultural habits; identity categories, mobility patterns and territorial practices; and attitudes towards work, money, time and government, to show how all these elements forge multiple oppositional boundaries between the neighbourhood and outside society, furthering the social and spatial exclusion of its population. This comprehensive urban ethnography challenges the 'transnational' orientation of current migration studies by highlighting the social significance of territory, proximity and spatial segregation in the lives of migrant dwellers. With the case study of Topia, I aim to show how addressing 'place' through a focus on 'boundary-making' (defined in complex and processual terms) is able to incorporate flux and immobility, and combine different scales of analysis (local, national and transnational), in a bottom-up ethnographic approach which views place as it is (re)produced through people's situated practices, ties, discourses and understandings. Table of Contents Introduction: Topia – the place...........................................................................................1 1. Scope and relevance of the research.........................................................................1 2. Literature Review......................................................................................................4 2.1 Engaging with urban space............................................................................4 2.2 Transnationalism and its discontents.............................................................6 2.3 Place matters: alternative approaches and their problems.............................8 2.4 Place-making as boundary-making...............................................................9 2.5 Terminology matters....................................................................................11 3. Topia: the place.......................................................................................................12 3.1 Physical layout.............................................................................................12 3.2 History.........................................................................................................14 3.2.1 Labourers, returnees and families: Cape Verdean immigration to Portugal.. ..................................................................................................................14 3.2.2 'An open wound in our social fabric': the housing problem in the Município ..................................................................................................................15 3.3 Topia: the people.........................................................................................18 3.4 Street occupation.........................................................................................22 3.4.1 Topia 'proper': rehousing versus purchase......................................22 3.4.2 On the streets: 'They're geckos!'......................................................25 4. Chapter outline........................................................................................................28 1. My house: 'See you later officer!'..................................................................................32 1. Where, when, what, why: research setting and research questions........................33 1.1 Where and when: my house.........................................................................33 1.2 What and why: research questions..............................................................34 2. How: Access............................................................................................................35 2.1 Obstacles and fear........................................................................................35 2.2 Progress: gateways into neighbourhood life................................................36 3. How: Methods.........................................................................................................38 3.1 Participant observation................................................................................38 3.1.1. Language........................................................................................39 3.2 Life stories...................................................................................................39 3.2.1 Contacts...........................................................................................40 3.2.2 Setting.............................................................................................41 3.2.3 Reciprocity......................................................................................42 3.2.4 Language and recording..................................................................43 3.2.5 Method............................................................................................44 3.3 Other interviews..........................................................................................45 3.3.1 Institutions.......................................................................................45 3.3.2 Ritual experts..................................................................................46 4. Writing-up...............................................................................................................47 5. Silences and limitations..........................................................................................49 5.1 Suspicion and time......................................................................................49 5.2 Gender and age............................................................................................50 5.3 Ethics and anonymity..................................................................................52 Part I – Inside: Neighbours, morals and culture.............................................................54 2. The Lunch Place: 'We must be for each other'............................................................55 1. Material scarcity and unemployment......................................................................56 2. Reciprocity..............................................................................................................59 2.1. Favours, errands, odd jobs: repertoire of neighbour requests....................59 2.2 Requests: nurturing networks of neighbour assistance...............................62 2.3 'Go take some onions': expectations of generosity......................................66 2.4 'We must be for each other': support in illness and death............................68 3. Relatedness and exclusivity....................................................................................70 3.1 'Neighbours' and social coordinates: idioms of relatedness........................70 3.2 Interaction rituals: greetings as confirmation of belonging.........................74 3.3 Intimacy and familiarity: the small things...................................................78 3. The Building: 'Here there is loneliness'........................................................................80 1. Failed requests and claims of entitlement...............................................................81 1.1 Nagging: 'Aren't you buying?'.....................................................................81 1.2 Avoiding without refusing: hiding, averting, excusing................................83 1.3 Private protest: 'It's abusive!'.......................................................................85 2. Monitoring and concealing.....................................................................................88 2.1 'The atmosphere': gazing and gossip...........................................................88 2.2 Duplicity and secrecy..................................................................................91 3. Mistrusting others...................................................................................................93 3.1 Discrepant intentions: 'evil' and 'envy'........................................................93 3.2 'They steal everything'.................................................................................96 4. Discourses of loneliness..........................................................................................99