ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the way in which gendered spatial practices constitute a particular socio-spatial configuration – namely, the urban neighbourhood. It focuses on the views and experiences of middle-class women in a Central Calcutta neighbourhood, and describes how local identities are constructed in relation to gender through everyday practices. Rather than looking at the space constituting the neighbourhood as the backdrop of meaningful social relations, the chapter highlights how spatial concepts and practices (re-) produce hierarchies, class and ethnic identity through behavioural norms and the provision of metaphors and categories, and explores different contexts within which the neighbourhood is appropriated and negotiated by middle-class women on an everyday basis.
