Neighborhood as home, city as alienating: gendered exchange circles and place belonging in peripheral Tel Aviv

Straddling the intersection of gender studies, urban and exchange theory, this article provides a fresh perspective on the role of gender-related exchange practices in constructing place belonging in a poor urban setting. To investigate this process, the article traces the life histories and everyday lives of longtime female residents who cultivated their attachment to their dwelling place over six decades. The case study explored is HaTikva–a lower-income neighborhood in downtown Tel Aviv, initially inhabited by disadvantaged Mizrahi Jews (of Middle-Eastern origin). The article examines the historical roots of gender and ethnic marginality of older Mizrahi women who participated in 29 meetings of an inductive life history group as part of ethnographic field research in HaTikva from 2010 to 2013. Informed by the concept of home-city geographies, it analyzes the cultivation of exchange circuits–a communal urban process undertaken primarily by women who construct the local community as an extended family and the neighborhood as home. Conversely, the absence of such supportive exchange circles turns the broader city into an intimidating, isolating space that compromises women's right to the city. These findings are discussed in relation to the role of gendered exchange in shaping place attachment.