Work

Introduction: uneasy neighbours: proximity, sociability and difference in the colonial city, c. 1870–1940

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This introductory essay establishes the site of the neighbourhood and the social fact of urban proximity as crucial, conflicted and volatile conditions of colonial society. We show that the colonial neighbourhood was a highly contested space where diverse populations, stark inequalities and asymmetric power distributions played out in the most palpable manner. At the same time, it also emerged as an incubator of sociability, solidarity and protest across communal lines. The constant tension between physical proximity and profound inequality defined much of the social dynamics in the colonial city, making neighbours and neighbourhoods a most promising terrain of enquiry.

Source: Urban History

DOI: 10.1017/s0963926825000136

Authors: Avner Ofrath, Norman Aselmeyer

Institutions: Freie Universität Berlin, University of Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550