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Window to a South-South World: Ordinary Gentrification and African Migrants in Delhi

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Book cover Migration and Agency in a Globalizing World

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

Indian and African economic ties have expanded tremendously in the last two decades. This has generated ideas of new global geopolitical realignments that are typically understood through a south-south collaborative lens. Our chapter reads these shifts by placing African migrants in a Delhi neighbourhood, aiming to understand the interactions between the hosts and migrants as a window into south-south futures. It argues that locals’ deeply held prejudices relating to Africans articulate with dynamics of urban change to produce precarity for the migrants. The chapter also shows that while the strategies adopted by the latter seek to minimize confrontations, there remains a gap in communication and meaningful interactions that would make these spaces livable for them in the long term.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Letter by residents of Block J-4, Khirki Extension to SHO, Malviya Nagar Police Stattion, 29 October 2013. http://www.aamaadmiparty.org/sites/default/files/Complaints%20of%20Khirki%20Extn.pdf (accessed on 12 January 2016).

  2. 2.

    The Delhi government was constituted by the Aam Aadmi Party, of which Bharti was a member, while the Union government was headed by the Indian National Congress.

  3. 3.

    Centre for Policy Research, Cities of Delhi project, ‘Categorisation of Settlement in Delhi’, Policy brief, May 2015. http://citiesofdelhi.cprindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Categorisation-of-Settlement-in-Delhi.pdf (accessed on 8 September 2016).

  4. 4.

    Illegal because the land in question was not marked for residential purposes but is sold for the same.

  5. 5.

    Personal interviews conducted with African migrants in Delhi conducted over 2013–2015.

  6. 6.

    ‘700 African nationals deported in 2013 from Delhi’, Times of India, 24 January 2013. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Over-700-African-nationals-deported-in-2013-from-Delhi/articleshow/29302530.cms (accessed on 12 March 2017).

  7. 7.

    The letter is currently in the possession of the authors.

  8. 8.

    Letter dated 26 November 2013 from the Shree Shiv Mandir Sanstha (lit. Shiv Temple Association) to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hauz Khas Police Station, New Delhi 110016.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Ecology, Ambedkar University, Delhi, India

    Rohit Negi

  2. Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, India

    Persis Taraporevala

Authors
  1. Rohit Negi
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  2. Persis Taraporevala
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa

    Scarlett Cornelissen

  2. Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan

    Yoichi Mine

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Negi, R., Taraporevala, P. (2018). Window to a South-South World: Ordinary Gentrification and African Migrants in Delhi. In: Cornelissen, S., Mine, Y. (eds) Migration and Agency in a Globalizing World. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60205-3_10

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