Power and Informality in Urban Africa: Ethnographic Perspectives

Description

Urban Africa is undergoing a transformation unlike anywhere else in the world, as unprecedented numbers of people migrate to rapidly expanding cities. But despite the growing body of work on urban Africa, the lives of these new city dwellers have received relatively little attention, particularly when it comes to crucial issues of power and inequality. This interdisciplinary collection brings together contributions from urban studies, geography, and anthropology to provide new insights into the social and political dynamics of African cities, as well as uncovering the causes and consequences of urban inequality. Featuring rich new ethnographic research data and case studies drawn from across the continent, the collection shows that Africa's new urbanites have adapted to their environs in ways which often defy the assumptions of urban planners. By examining the experiences of these urban residents in confronting issues of power and agency, the contributors consider how such insights can inform more effective approaches to research, city planning and development both in Africa and beyond.

Laura Stark is Professor of ethnology at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. She was previously the director of the exchange network Living with Informal Settlements, Tackling Urban Poverty (LIFT UP), funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Annika Bjoernsdotter Teppo is Associate Professor at the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at Uppsala University, Sweden. Dr. Teppo has previously headed the cluster for Urban Dynamics at the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden. She has been granted a title of docent in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

This excellent edited volume continues the tradition of Zed producing work on informality in cities on the African continent. A wide variety of scholars will find much to ponder in these pages. There is a particular focus on the intersections between power inequality and informality, but across a diversity of urban contexts. The ethnographic approaches of the authors bring these diverse contexts to life. * Garth A. Myers, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Urban International Studies, Trinity College, USA *