Bodies of Affect in Landscapes of Despair

My thesis examines how marginal groups persist between constant disruptions and tactical negotiations in revanchist urban landscapes.

Acknowledging the spatial inequalities of the emerging city, my research explores the everyday precarities of groups existing in “gray spaces”, i.e. those who have neither been fully integrated nor entirely eliminated.

Here, 14-year-old Deepika, inhabiting a busy street of Mumbai, is seen caring for her infant pet chickens. This is evocative of the affective ties that marginal groups living in precarious conditions in the city nurture. When institutional forces are consistently trying to erase poor people from the urban landscape, I call this, quotidian practices of claiming 'home' in 'unhomely' spaces.