Delhi and Its Urban Peripheries: Associational Life of the Village

Abstract

Abstract This paper draws on the larger experience of urbanisation in two villages in Delhi, in particular the changing political and social life of these villages. Based on field research conducted between 2017 and 2019, it aims to explore the associational life of the villages and the ways in which traditional and newer forms of association and governance interact with each other and the state. In the new landscape, where panchayats operate alongside resident welfare associations and youth-led self-help organisations, a multiplicity of ‘political’ and ‘associational’ strategies have been adopted, with the invocation of terms such as ‘social work’ alongside an older invocation of biradari or community.