Taking up Space: Redefining Political Legitimacy in New York City

Abstract

In this paper the ways in which the legitimacy gained through appropriation of space, accomplished by drawing on skills learned by living at or beyond the margins of mainstream economic and political production, is being extended to redefine political involvement and change are examined. The example of neighborhood networks of residents living in limited-equity cooperatives in New York City will be examined as a new form of political practice based on the experiences of gender, race, class, and shared lifeworlds. The paper ultimately is an attempt to identify what concept of citizenship is at work for those who have survived long-term multi-leveled exclusion from the economic and political spheres and yet have created communities.