Language:
English
Pages:
110 Seiten
Series Statement:
Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers 18
Series Statement:
BIGSASWorks! 18
Abstract:
Cities and urban life have become more and more important on the African continent. Between 1995 and 2015, Africa`s urban growth rate has been the highest in the world, over ten times faster than in Europe. With an average annual 3.4% population growth between 1995 and 2015, African cities had the highest urbanization growth rate worldwide (UNHABITAT 2016: 7). While being aware of the significance of changing urban environments, policy and development paths, the contributions of this volume focus on different aspects. Instead of examining structural transformations, the authors examine what it means to live in a city and how it is possible to study these experiences. It is necessary to keep in mind that neither numbers on urban development rates nor data on the rising average income of city dwellers can describe the meaningfulness of life in African cities. But what is the relation of "The Metropolis and Mental Life" (Simmel 1971 [1903]) and can we find a special way of "Urbanism as a way of life" (Wirth 1938) in 21st century African settings? If we can answer these questions positively, how can we understand the specific qualities of life in African cities? To answer these and more questions, the proposed volume aims to examine aspects of living in African cities from an interdisciplinary point of view with a focus on qualitative approaches. By considering the hows and whys in several settings - Nairobi, Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam - the texts collected here want to give a more precise description by qualitative account and not by quantitative research: The contributions study social groups, actors including practices and influences such as politics that shape contemporary African cities and urban spaces. They also raise methodological questions regarding research on living in African cities. The different approaches to practices, politics, city dwellers and their cities complement each other and open new analytical perspectives to study the dynamics and the fluid processes of living in urban Africa. This reciprocal relationship of cities and their residents in the African context also discloses differentiations in power relations, lifestyles and milieus, which influence mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in the everyday life of urban spaces.
URL:
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-3674-9
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