https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144220923631 Journal of Urban History 1–35 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0096144220923631 journals.sagepub.com/home/juh Original Research Article Dalit Chembur: Spatializing the Caste Question in Bombay, c. 1920s-1970s Geeta Thatra 1 Abstract Studying the spatial exclusion of Dalits is distinct from looking at caste as an axis of spatial organization in the city. The “urban” is not just a location for mapping the social geography, but a mode that engenders spatial inequality. This article probes the spatial strategies of urban planning, between the 1920s and 1970s, which produced exclusionary spaces and masked the dynamics of caste within its techno-managerial rationality. It refocuses the lens of scholarship on Bombay from the urban periphery moving beyond the three popular sites of Bombay’s historiography: the factory, the neighborhoods of mill district, and the Island City. Exploring the politics of urban expansion, it illustrates how the planning regime reproduced hegemonic caste-class relations, which relegated Dalit migrants to the city’s fringes, on low-quality lands, and in segregated neighborhoods. Based on life histories, this article shows how Dalits created spaces for living, linked inextricably to their labor, and contests the abstract notions of space like “slum” that identify and mark people and their spaces. It also explores the affective relations nurtured and solidarities forged in the Dalit neighborhood on the terrain of urban politics, which recognizes Dalit actors and their struggles for redistribution and dignity. Keywords space, planning, segregation, Dalits, Bombay/Mumbai Chembur mājhā bale qilā āhē (Chembur is my impregnable fort) B. R. Ambedkar 1 Introduction In his memoir—Memories of Babasaheb Ambedkar—Ramchandra Londhe, an 84-year-old resi- dent of Chembur (a suburban locality in Bombay), reminisces the presence of Babasaheb Ambedkar in his neighborhood. 2 Londhe was a member of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF), which was the second political party founded by Ambedkar in 1942 to cam- paign for the constitutional rights of Dalits. Londhe’s memoir is a recollection of Dalit labor at 1 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India Corresponding Author: Geeta Thatra, Research Scholar, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi 110067, India. Email: geeta.thatra@gmail.com 923631JUH XX X 10.1177/0096144220923631Journal of Urban HistoryThatra research-article 2020