'Samudayik Shakti': Working-class feminism and social organisation in Subhash Camp, New Delhi

Ayona Datta
2007 Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography  
This article illustrates the intersections between architecture and agency in Subhash Camp, a squatter settlement in New Delhi, by 'situating activism in place'. It highlights the significance of place in social action by examining the architecture of everyday places-the house, the street and the square -as the sites of both individual transformations and collective consciousness. Through observations of the activities of and interviews with members of Samudayik Shakti, a women's organisation
more » ... d a men's panchayat, this article highlights a number of related processes in Subhash Camp: how different women experienced different places through everyday spatial practices; how the spatial practices in these places were shaped by different social structures at different scales, from the family to the state; how the architecture of these places was significant both as sites of control and of emancipation of women's bodies; and how this dynamic contributed to the making of social action in Subhash Camp.
doi:10.1080/09663690701213818 fatcat:voaev2cwc5b3jbyydxehs66qci