Collective life unbroken

Making parallel cases for Muslim and African American collective life, this paper suggests taking the otherwise meaningless commonality of racial identity to which blacks have been ‘condemned’ and using it as a platform to incessantly provoke, experiment, reach out, argue and figure out ways to be together. AbdouMaliq Simone was the Director of the International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, University of South Australia, Research Associate at the Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society, Oxford University, and Visiting Professor of Urban Studies at the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town

People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg

The inner city of Johannesburg is about as far away as one can get from the popular image of the African village. Though one of Africa’s most urbanized settings, it is also seen as a place of ruins—of ruined urbanization, the ruining of Africa by urbanization. But in these ruins, something else besides decay might be happening. This essay explores the possibility that these ruins not only mask but also constitute a highly urbanized social infrastructure. This infrastructure is capable of facilitating the intersection of socialities so that expanded spaces of economic and cultural operation become available to residents of limited means. This essay is framed around the notion of people as infrastructure, which emphasizes economic collaboration among residents seemingly marginalized from and immiserated by urban life. Infrastructure is commonly understood in physical terms, as reticulated systems of highways, pipes, wires, or cables. These modes of provisioning and articulation are viewed as making the city productive, reproducing it, and positioning its residents, territories, and resources in specific ensembles where the energies of individuals can be most efficiently deployed and accounted for

Emergency Democracy and the "Governing Composite"

Recent years have witnessed a substantial extension of thoughts and work on cities in Africa. Much of this work has tried to get out of the conceptual frameworks that usually render African cities as failed cities, cities always in need of something more — whether it be infrastructure, governance, or economic development. As David Satterthwaite so ably demonstrates, cities in the global South in general are caught in a series of powerful myths that represent them as more parasitic and more economically fragmented than cities elsewhere. The prevailing notion is that of an urban fabric overrun, unable to accommodate all of the escalating demands made of it; of environmental degradation spawned by widespread impoverishment; and of increased social conflict among residents who find few institutional platforms to promote coherence and collaboration. In the following discussion, I emphasize the implications of trying to see the emerging fabric of urban Africa as the result of a productive deployment of sensibilities, practices, effort, and collective formations that are made possible by the very uncertainties incumbent within cities deeply punctuated by fragmented infrastructures, social contestation over the uses to be made of the city, and political regimes thoroughly made partial through their entanglement within diverse networks of exchange. In particular, this essay deals with the often peculiar process through which actors come to make their mark on collective transactions and the way in which idiosyncratic constellations of such actors provide a workable balance between the provisional and incessantly mutating practices required to viably “make do” in most African cities and a sense of order, if only temporary

Refazendo cidades africanas

This article presents the 2004 book For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, by AbdouMaliq Simone, who has spent more than twenty years studying African cities as an activist, teacher, researcher and NGO advisor. and local governments. The author shows us the nuances, obscurities and creativity behind the urban life of the various Africas and elaborates a critical analysis of the suffering and injustices of urban life. Simone contests the conventional view of “failed cities”, arguing that the understanding of urban centers in Africa involves knowing the historical origins of each city in particular and, not least, also getting to know the local knowledge, which is strongly imbued in the culture, which are reflected in the “informal” social, economic and political systems that give life and form to cities(Since there isEste artículo presenta el libro de 2004 For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, de AbdouMaliq Simone, quien ha pasado más de veinte años estudiando las ciudades africanas como activista, docente, investigador y asesor de ONGs y gobiernos locales. El autor nos muestra los matices, las oscuridades y la creatividad detrás de la vida urbana de las distintas Áfricas y elabora un análisis crítico del sufrimiento y las injusticias de la vida urbana. Simone cuestiona la visión convencional de las “ciudades fallidas”, argumentando que la comprensión de los centros urbanos en África implica conocer los orígenes históricos de cada ciudad en particular y, no menos importante, también conocer el conocimiento local, que está fuertemente imbuido en la cultura, que se reflejan en los sistemas sociales, económicos y políticos “informales” que dan vida y forma a las ciudades (Al no existirEste artigo apresenta o livro de 2004 For the City Yet to Come: Changing African Life in Four Cities, de autoria de AbdouMaliq Simone, que se dedica há mais de vinte anos ao estudo das cidades africanas como ativista, professor, pesquisador e assessor de ONGs e governos locais. O autor mostra-nos as nuances, obscuridades e criatividades por detrás da vida urbana das várias Áfricas e elabora uma análise crítica ao sofrimento e injustiças da vida urbana. Simone contesta a visão convencional de “cidades falhadas”, argumentando que a compreensão dos centros urbanos em África passa por conhecer as origens históricas de cada cidade em particular e, não menos importante, também conhecer de perto os saberes locais, que são fortemente imbuídos na cultura, que se refletem nos sistemas sociais, econômicos e políticos “informais” que dão vida e forma às cidades (Por não haver resumo no texto original, este foi feito pelos editores)

Entrevista com AbdouMaliq Simone

Entrevista exclusiva realizada por Scott Salmon com AbdouMaliq Simone. O mote da conversa são os temas do livro Improvised Lives: Rhythms of Endurance in an Urban South (After the Postcolonial), publicado em 2018.

Attention to infrastructure offers a welcome reconfiguration of anthropological approaches to the political

This constitutes the edited proceedings of the 2015 meeting of the Group for Debates in Anthropological Theory held at Manchester

Movement 4. Breath Sigh Tempest: On the Temporal Dimensions of Re-arrangements

The fourth movement explores the temporal relationship between arrangements and re-arrangements, addressing the question of how an obdurate and ‘sticky’ temporal order may give way to palpable re-arrangement of the ways in which subjects experience time. Eschewing a concern with linear homogenous time, it addresses the processes of re-arrangement by understanding the dynamics of grave events, hauntings of the past, subtly changing rhythms of everyday life, and the force of potential futures in synchrony