On the neighbor

Who is a neighbor? Or rather how does a neighbor appear to us? There is a sense from which a question such as this appears futile. No one changes real estate the way some may cycle through fashion. And yet, even in conceding this apparent impasse we begin with a starting point. A neighbor, is in most cases not a choice. The property markets sells to a customer precisely what the sales deed designates, and nothing more. You in all likelihood will not be able to choose who your neighbors are, or what they do. 

There are of course demarcations such as ‘good neighborhoods’ and bad ones, inner city - along with the crime and ghettos that they are known to harbor is never far enough away from the gentrified middle class seeking to establish respectability in whatever means or manner. And since we have already broached the topic of a sale, allow me to also emphasize, that unlike an employee or a student, prescribing to a neighbor is indeed difficult.

Addressing the second question, how does a neighbor appear to us. In buildings which may be close by, or apartment complexes where adjacent flats have large balconies facing each other, it is likely that you may hear your neighbor, their commentary, clanging of vessels, phone calls, fights, television use and what not. Architecture, of course plays either an essential or deterring role in this, and the senses mentioned above vanish quite rapidly with soundproof windows, yet notwithstanding the implementation of such measures, they stand.

Configured in these terms, the neighbor as a category is also an annunciation of our ignorance - for what do we tangibly know about such a figure beyond the voices and whispers, and perhaps occasional declarations beyond walls. A situation which is sure to breed some anxiety.

For a while now the emancipatory left has understood that it is not possible to initiate any kind of politics without an inquiry. The question hence emerges as to what kind of inquiry can one subject a neighbor to? And, perhaps more pertinent, what this means for our own practice, as a household to begin with, yet also as individuals, families and subjects. This is where the primacy of practice re-introduces itself in a register which is as anonymous as the subject it seeks to address.

This is not entirely a matter organized by labor alone, the state machinery has its own ways of undertaking such an inquiry. Citizen registration, which began in censuses have now multiplied and are often used in opening bank accounts and even purchasing sim cards - Aadhar being one form of identification which has been implemented and issued in India. This however serves merely as a localization of a subject within a territory and in no way explains the activities of their sustenance. The income tax department has a registry which addresses this lacunae, as well as a mechanism of addressing discrepancies in accounts, whatever its limitations may be, yet as a matter it is one which is strictly between the subject in question and the state, much like a believer and their serviceman in a parish. 

Neighbors hence, attain a sense of political substantialization, and this is augmented in the terrain of contemporary discourse which seeks to posit privacy as an end in itself, where consent can be commodified and traded even, as between institutions trading in personal data - social media platforms being case in point. 

There has been some rumblings about what the new normal in a post-pandemic world will be. Principally these are the contours of what it will have to contend against, particularly as working from home becomes increasingly mainstream.

These situations are not without their economic implications. In a domain where the trade of commodities and services is not transparent or inhibited, sustenance becomes a function of ground rent, in fact Zizek has recently been speaking of how reactionaries are increasingly not even resorting to the category of profit in any capitalistic sense yet are increasingly leaning on rent. Classically there are two way in which this has manifested itself. One being agriculture, where surplus produce is sold, the other being house rent, in the case of landlords. In a situation where these are the only two forms of remuneration in operation - it is inevitable that those who sell surplus produce to sustain themselves will be unable to pay rents demanded by landlords. There are indications of this in the agitation by farmers against the Farm Bills in India.  

In the city of Hyderabad for instance - there are presently over ten thousand properties listed for rentable purposes on magicbricks.com alone, a property transaction site. Bear in mind that these are merely residential properties, not counting any commercial spaces, offices for lease, etc. Most shops in malls pay a rent, as do those on ground floors of cheaper neighborhoods. Occasionally a family lives just above such an enterprise by which they earn a living. 

The situation of the neighbor in the city will have to contend with the masses who move into the city, and housing remains a prime municipal concern. The state government in Telangana for example recently announced a housing scheme to help those looking for cheap accommodation. Publicly funded low housing schemes are a requirement for any state with a growing population and India features right up on that list, yet if a crises is to be averted, and if we are to take any lessons from the housing market crash in the US we need to ensure that the target clientele is in a position to purchase these houses. So what data do builders draw on when starting constructions? Such questions would be of help and a step forward in any social science department and may even be stated as prescriptions. I might add that it would help integrate their work with industry in new ways and may help departments to start financing themselves. If institutional autonomy is a demand for a university I know of no better means than by beginning to establish financial independence. 

Surveys conducted by the government would be able to trace the demand for housing across geographical areas - but how is the money supply which is to account for these sales be guaranteed? This is a question that a builder will have to come to terms with. Seeking governmental intervention is such an area, in the form of access to surveys, occupation and income data, etc. would in the long term ensure that we don’t wastefully erect unsellable structures which have to be torn down later.

The neighbor in these coordinates sits as a figure who arrives after such a ‘prehistory’, one whose account is invisibleized in an act of occupation. This is a lost narrative which history departments should gear up to account for lest they forget how they found a roof over their head while they were dissecting mythologies. While I resist the temptation to prescribe to departments, these are two I would advocate.

The neighbor when not privy to a practice will naturally grow suspicious at worst and curious at best, some degree of public sharing of our work would in the long term be the best means to address this and the means to facilitate it is already in place and active in the form of dedicated portals, and online groups which are already organizing along these lines - this is hardly surprising given that properties are indeed put up for rent online. 

What this would enable is the displacement of the neighbor from our geographical adjacent to a thematic accomplice which we may share a practice with. I read this as a positive trajectory and the point where the category of the neighbor meets its logical negation and the possibility of a comrade may emerge.