Paper short abstract:

Very special patterns of the connection of the urban and rural can be found within the biographical constitutions of space of these people. This contribution introduces an explorative research design and first results based on narrative-biographic interviews from urban Kenya.

Paper long abstract:

The socio-spatial orientations of middle-classes depends from their work relations on the one hand and from their social environment, i.e. their sphere of reproduction (in families and other protective security networks that provide support in case of emergencies) on the other hand. Both spheres have become in the last decades through the integration into a more and more globalizing accumulation regime in an increasing tension. It looks like urban spaces in Kenia have become hubs of global accumulation whereas the countryside seems to be the sphere of family and reproduction. Therefore, the members of the urban middle class preserve strong ties to their families and ethnic groups in the countryside over generations. Very special patterns of the connection of the urban and rural can be found within the biographical constitutions of space of these people. This contribution introduces an explorative research design and first results based on narrative-biographic interviews from urban Kenya.

Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the rise of the black middle-class within the context of the Zimbabwean land reform. It explores the new developments and trends in the rural enclave from a gender perspective, and argue that a small click of farmers are becoming part of a new middle-class in rural areas.

Paper long abstract:

The article gives an analysis of rise of the middle-class within the context of land reform in Zimbabwe, utilising the 'gender lenses' and the narrative inquiry in the unearthing of the lived realities and experiences of both female and male land owners, taping into their finite changes of lifestyle. The research focused on the analysis of the post Fast Track Land Reform Programme farmer narratives and the rise of a click of these 'new farmers' to the middle-class as they 'modernised' their agricultural activities and transform their social status. This paper acknowledges that there is an avalanche of conflicting definitions of the middle-class in Africa due to the unstable economic environment, but argues that the narrative about the rising middle class is now 'inscribed on the walls' in the rural. This is a counter narrative to the history of poverty in the rural. Thus the article does not put gender 'lenses' but gives an alternative approach to land reform studies, thereby contribute to new knowledge production in the sociology and anthropology of land, a space which has been known for neglecting the gender dimension or treat it as an 'add on'. The study concludes that despite the challenges faced by new farmers, some have taken advantage of the political economic environment to 'up' their farming ventures to being profitable, strengthening the argument that the middle class phenomenon is no longer restricted to the urban only.

Paper short abstract:

Understanding rural mobile phone usage as alternative modernity through local innovation. The innovative use of mobile phones to transfer songs between rural and urban parishes of the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique serves to unite communities across rural and urban spaces.

Paper long abstract:

Through the mobile phone, the distance between the rural and the urban is minimised enabling myriad developments and changes in the economic, social, and cultural sectors. In seeking to understand how rural and urban identities in Africa are changing, this paper focuses on the innovative ways in which people in Sub-Saharan Africa are using mobile technology to suit their needs, as well as the opportunities that arise when activities in local lifestyles and environments are combined with this technology. It is proposed that rural mobile phone usage offers an alternative modernity where people living in rural areas have access to the urban, as well as the information and possibilities that exist on a global level without depending on urban spaces for this access.

Fieldwork conducted in 2013 brings to light innovative uses of the mobile phone in rural Facazisse, Mozambique. One use in particular shows the implications of music traveling between rural and urban spaces: the transfer of songs through the mobile phone between the women's Activistas church groups of Antioka parish (rural Facazisse) and Khovo parish (urban Maputo) of the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique. With their common heritage in the Swiss Mission, these rural and urban communities regularly share their songs through this technology. Not only does it 'decrease' the physical distance between them, but the sharing of songs between these parishes leads to the development of a community that interweaves the rural and the urban, where, coming together during Church celebrations, they are united in song.

Paper short abstract:

In Urban South Africa the concept ‘Black Tax’ is used to describe the ways in which first generation black professionals are obligated to the family through remittances. The paper contributes to addressing questions around how Black South Africans navigate life in a post-apartheid context.

Paper long abstract:

In Urban South Africa the concept 'Black Tax' is perceived of as hindrance when one has ascended to institutionalised black middle class. As such 'black tax' is framed as stifling economic growth which is determined by growing black middle class. 'Black tax' describes the ways in which first generation black professionals are obligated to family relations through remittances. While 'black tax' is discussed widely in the media mainly from shared individual stories, black tax as a feature of black middle class remains subject to empirical interrogation. The ideas of 'black tax' claim a reverse of what apartheid said that black people support the extended family to exclude from grants and welfare. But the kinds of mutual support networks implied in this have been overly emphasised. That extended family do not only have a long and deep history. But also has long deep history and lost is that of the black middle class which arose soon after the colonial conquest, diamond discovery and demand for grain. In this paper, I address questions around (a) When and how did family obligations become tax? (b) For whose interest do such ideas serve? Through this, I will engage with debates around how black tax allows one to also understand the state and the economy by also focusing on the neo-liberal view underpinning national policy to achieve economic growth through expanded black middle class. Ultimately, the paper contributes to addressing questions around how Black South Africans navigate life in a post-apartheid context.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will provide a case study of workers' settlements in an urbanizing agro-industrial hub in Kenya. Translocal practices of migrant workers have shaped space in transient residential areas in Naivasha.

Paper long abstract:

In the past four decades, the area around Lake Naivasha in Kenya rapidly transformed from a rural cattle-ranching area into an agro-industrial centre, implicated within global value chains. The industry attracted ten thousands of labour migrants from all over Kenya. These migrants remain strongly connected to their - mostly rural - region of origin: they are grounded in Naivasha for the time-being but are ultimately 'on the move'. This paper looks into the ways in which these translocal migrants carved out space for themselves in the rapidly expanding residential areas around the lake. The paper will elaborate on residents' place-making strategies - shaped by intersections of class, ethnicity and gender - which together with structural forces made these settlements into 'transient spaces'.