Place and Prestige

Abstract

On my way into school one morning I bump into Baqir and his cousin, Chetana. They are the children of first-generation Bangladeshi immigrants who reside in the block of flats opposite where I live. Both Baqir and Chetana are pupils in Year Five/Six at Tenter Ground School. Between their flat and mine is the garden square which is enclosed by three blocks of flats four storeys high; each block contains about forty flats. These blocks form part of a much larger estate comprising other garden squares of which there are approximately five or six in total.¹ As we walk to school together, Baqir offers to carry my bags. Eager with reciprocal gestures because they are pleased with the gifts of my Pokemon drawings, boys who are not preoccupied with trying to look tough often offer to carry my bags when they see me coming into school.