Reciprocal spaces: The socio-material life of balconies in urban Egypt

Reciprocal spaces, such as windows and balconies, connect the vertical and the horizontal, enable the flow of meanings and feelings, and join with other material artifacts to unite emotionally and socially those who are spatially distant, and socially and emotionally distance those who are spatially proximate. Cairo's balconies reveal that reciprocal spaces allow the gaze to be reoriented, the meaning to be circulated, and the feeling to be shared. They blur the distinction between the subject and the object, the observer and the observed, and the high and the low. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in Cairo and informed by the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Karen Barad, this paper shows that the balcony is entangled with other objects, spaces, and people in ways that materialize the socio-economic hierarchies (especially class and gender), which structure daily practices and constitute urban subjects. Incorporating balconies in ethnographic research, this paper argues, enables us to be in the city while thinking of the city, undermining a dichotomy that has long troubled urban anthropology.

Automated summary

Reciprocal spaces such as windows and balconies play a crucial role in connecting the vertical and horizontal aspects of a city, allowing for the flow of meaning and emotions between spatially distant individuals and socially proximate ones. Balconies in Cairo, for example, enable a reorientation of vision, circulation of meaning, and sharing of emotions. This paper argues that incorporating balconies into ethnographic research helps to deconstruct the dichotomy between being in the city and thinking about the city, and sheds light on the socio-economic hierarchies that shape urban life.