ABSTRACT
In recent years, the “Muslim neighbourhood” has come to occupy an important place within the urban imaginary of most Indian cities. Variously identified as mohalla, para, ilaka, and so on, these “Muslim” spaces represent various points in a continuum from self-segregated, homogeneous ethnic enclaves to more complex and heterogeneous socio-spatial formations displaying forced enclosure and deprivation, such as ghettos and slums. Despite their ubiquitous presence and differences in form, their immediate identification almost always occurs through the arc of religious community membership of their residents, often accompanied by a number of set negative attributions that segregate them from the urban mainstream. By narrating Muslim voices from a “Muslim” neighbourhood in Kolkata, the chapter hopes to highlight how issues of identity, belonging and access to the city are perceived by a majority of its Muslim residents who have, over the years, been pushed to the fringes of urban living. In the process, the chapter also engages with the local perceptions of the neighbourhood and the ways in which dynamics of socio-spatial othering work to further complicate perceptions “difference” and understandings of “self” and “other” and of “neighbours” and “strangers” in urban India in the contemporary times.
