Moments of not belonging as affective arrangements

Abstract

In times characterised by different kinds of migration and mobility, many individuals come to enter and adapt to social contexts that differ strongly from their milieu of origin. Thereby, they end up navigating multiple, often conflicting forms of belonging. This navigation is accompanied by affectively relevant situations occurring in both contexts in which individuals fail to feel a sense of belonging. Situated within the broader anthropological discourse on belonging, mobility and becoming and drawing on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Delhi, this paper explores moments of felt not belonging experienced by socially mobile individuals in their ‘old’ and ‘new’ contexts. By applying the concept of ‘affective arrangement’ (Slaby 2019), the study makes sense of reoccurring moments in which individuals fail to feel a sense of belonging. The findings suggest that in the new context, the situational moments of not belonging stem from individuals being reminded of where they came from despite their transformation and undeniable adaptation. In their milieu of origin, they tend to feel alienated and experience something along the lines of ‘I belong to them, but I am not like them (anymore).’ By shedding light on the affective forces at play in these moments of not belonging, this paper aims to contribute to broader discussions on the complexities of belonging and the emotional dimensions of social mobility and transformation.