Theme: 4. The Role of Local Communities: Society Against States and Corporations?

Soil, Soul, and Space: Reconceptualizing the 'City' from the South

Roundtable Convenor(s)

• RP

  Rita Padawangi

  Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
• 

  Huiying Ng

  Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Germany
• AP

  Adrian Perkasa

  Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian & Caribbean Studies (KITLV), Indonesia

Roundtable Chair(s)

• RP

  Rita Padawangi

  Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore

Roundtable Participant(s)

• RP

  Rita Padawangi

  Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
• 

  Huiying Ng

  Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Germany
• AP

  Adrian Perkasa

  Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian & Caribbean Studies (KITLV), Indonesia
• AA

  Amalia Andini

  Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
• JJ

  Jama Musse Jama

  Hargeysa Cultural Centre, Italy
• 

  Paul Rabé

  International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Netherlands
• RS

  Richard Sambaiga

  University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• MS

  Mathew Senga

  University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• AS

  AbdouMaliq Simone

  University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Roundtable Abstract:

If we were to look at cities from the neighborhood level, from everyday material practices that hold communities together, how would cities look like? Cities have become concentrations of human settlements as most of the world population is now urban. Yet, how much have studies of cities investigated the various ways of embodied, material practices connect elements of nature and spiritual experiences with social constructions of space, and eventually social organizations? Although each city has its own historical and geographical contexts, various comparisons and rankings emerge in global arena. Certain idealized characteristics become aspired images of cities, as if these images are transferrable without rootedness in their everyday material practices of space. Furthermore, these idealized cities are rarely situated in the South, if ever. Despite the abundance of critiques on the geographical imbalance of knowledge production, the approach to understand cities are still insufficiently representative of the South. The current gaze on cities is still structured by the production of urban spaces under capitalist economies, held together by processes of state-making. While acknowledging the role of capitalism in contemporary urbanization, we believe that there are other processes that deserve more attention in contemporary urban studies. These processes indicate close, iterative interconnections among various dimensions of space; and there are moments in which these processes seriously negotiate, and even dominate over capitalist logic.  “Soil, soul, and space” call for exchanges of observations, notes, experiences, and aspirations of looking at cities from the ground, through which material, spiritual, and spatial aspects interweave and transcend across scales. Through sharing studies of neighborhoods, kramat, soils, and various social-spatial urban processes in Southeast Asia and Africa, this roundtable aims to empower scholars to continue reconceptualizing cities and urban life from the South.

Roundtable supported by: The Southeast Asia Neighborhoods Network (SEANNET), administered by the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).