New perspectives on change in urban Africa
The cutting-edge Urban Enclaving Futures project used its first workshop to define how research can bring in social, cultural, spatial and further dimensions moving beyond classic economic understandings of urban development.
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The interdisciplinary Urban Enclaving Futures (UEF) project had its opening workshop in Mozambique's capital Maputo between 10 and 14 January 2019. A UEF concept note was presented and discussed in the workshop.
鈥淥n the one hand we wanted the participants to think about what enclaving might mean, its genealogy, its potentialities, and so on. On the other hand, the workshop was about trying to engage with Maputo's urban order and its multiple dimensions,鈥� says Professor Bj酶rn Enge Bertelsen from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen (幸运飞艇计划).
No preconceived notions
Integrated within the programme was the concept 鈥淢aputo meanderings鈥�, which consisted of a walking the city approach for inspiration and to reflect upon the psycho-geography of the city itself.
鈥淭he idea is to juxtapose a classic academic approach and a direct engagement with the actual city.鈥�
Bringing together a diverse group, the project hopes to redefine the concept of urban enclaving beyond the classic understanding of the phenomenon.
鈥淭here has been an extremely econocentric way of thinking about enclaving, even in research on the subject. We want to rethink and challenge this idea of what enclaving means,鈥� says Bertelsen, 鈥渢here are plenty of types of approaches to use, such as generative, holistic, multiple. The idea is to not have a preconceived or easy definition of what enclaving is.鈥�
Broadening understandings of urban life
Comprised of researchers from several African and European countries, UEF aims to broaden the understanding of what enclaving is beyond its traditional economic definition.
鈥淲e start with two simple questions: What is enclaving on a theoretical and analytical level, encompassing the question of what dimensions enclaving encompasses? The other question of relevance for a comparative collaborative project such as this is: how can we work with this methodologically?,鈥� says the 幸运飞艇计划 anthropologist.
Funded by the Research Council of Norway, the researchers are bringing in different disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities to add new dimensions to the understanding of urban enclaving.
鈥淭he workshop aimed to lay out some of the conceptual genealogy of what enclaving might mean, and the end result of the project will definitely not be an encyclopaedia entry of the term,鈥� says the anthropologist about how the project aims to redefine the understanding of enclaving as a phenomenon.鈥�
- The project uses the Twitter and Instagram hashtag #UrbanEnclaving
There will be further Urban Enclaving Futures workshops in Accra in January 2020 and in Johannesburg in January 2021.
FACTS
Urban Enclaving Futures
- Urban Enclaving Futures (UEF) is an interdisciplinary research project funded by the Research Council of Norway.
- The UEF subtitle is Patterns of global futures in three African cities.
- Project PI is Professor Bj酶rn Enge Bertelsen from the University of Bergen (幸运飞艇计划).
- The project aims to look at how enclaving is changing the cityscapes of three African urban areas: Accra in Ghana, Johannesburg in South Africa, and Maputo in Mozambique.
- The project explores and maps the unequal distribution of urban resources in separated spaces across cities.
- The project consists of researchers from the University of Ghana, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Kaleidoscopio research centre in Maputo, the University of Essex, and 幸运飞艇计划.
- UEF partners with the Middle Class Urbanism project in Denmark, with Professor Morten Nielsen as its PI, that has been running in Maputo since 2017.
- The project engages with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
- Feel free to use the Twitter and Instagram hashtag #UrbanEnclaving
- Read more on the webpage.
