119 research outputs found
Lagos, Koolhaas and Partisan Politics in Nigeria
Architect Rem Koolhaas and his team from Harvard regard Lagos as an extreme and pathological form of the city in Africa and as a paradigmatic case of a modern avant-garde city. In rehabilitating the informality at work in Lagos, they put forward a romanticized vision of a self-regulatory system working outside state regulation and political influence. In this article I consider that the crisis of urban infrastructure in Lagos is less the result of the weakness of the Nigerian state than of a historical opposition between the Federal government and Lagos State leaders, especially concerning the allocation of resources to the city. I also suggest that informality and state decline analysis are inadequate theoretical frameworks for detailing the way Lagos has been planned or governed since the end of the colonial period. Instead, this article, based on empirical research covering local government, motor parks and markets, considers that the city's resources have been used to build political networks between state officials and a number of âcivil societyâ leaders. This process and the reinforcement of taxation in the last 30 years are not so much a manifestation of informality and state decline as part and parcel of the historical state formation in Nigeria and in Lagos.Lâarchitecte Rem Koolhass et son Ă©quipe de Harvard voient en Lagos une forme extrĂȘme et pathologique de grande ville africaine et un cas typique de ville Ă lâavant-garde de la modernitĂ©. En rĂ©habilitant lâinformalitĂ© qui opĂšre Ă Lagos, ils proposent une vision enjolivĂ©e dâun systĂšme autorĂ©gulateur fonctionnant hors de lâinfluence politique et rĂ©glementaire de lâĂtat. Cet article considĂšre quâĂ Lagos, la crise de lâinfrastructure urbaine rĂ©sulte moins de la faiblesse de lâĂtat nigĂ©rian que de lâopposition traditionnelle entre le gouvernement fĂ©dĂ©ral et les dirigeants de lâĂtat de Lagos, notamment en matiĂšre de dotation de ressources Ă la ville. De plus, lâinformalitĂ© et lâanalyse du dĂ©clin de lâĂtat se rĂ©vĂšlent des cadres thĂ©oriques inappropriĂ©s si lâon veut prĂ©ciser la maniĂšre dont Lagos a Ă©tĂ© amĂ©nagĂ©e ou administrĂ©e depuis la fin de lâĂšre coloniale. En revanche, Ă partir dâune Ă©tude empirique englobant gouvernement local, parcs de stationnement et marchĂ©s, cet article montre que les ressources municipales ont servi Ă tisser des rĂ©seaux politiques entre responsables de lâĂtat et plusieurs personnalitĂ©s de la âsociĂ©tĂ© civileâ. Cette dĂ©marche et lâaccentuation des taxes au cours des trente derniĂšres annĂ©es ne sont pas tant la manifestation de lâinformalitĂ© et du dĂ©clin de lâĂtat quâune composante de la formation de lâĂtat au NigĂ©ria et Ă Lagos
Between world history and state formation: new perspectives on Africaâs cities
The dramatic urban change taking place on the African continent
has led to a renewed and controversial interest in Africaâs cities within several
academic and expert circles. Attempts to align a growing but fragmented body of
research on Africaâs urban past with more general trends in urban studies have
been few but have nevertheless opened up new analytical possibilities. This article
argues that to move beyond the traps of localism and unhelpful categorizations
that have dominated aspects of urban history and the urban studies literature of the
continent, historians should explore African urban dynamics in relation to world
history and the history of the state in order to contribute to larger debates between
social scientists and urban theorists. By considering how global socio-historical
processes articulate with the everyday lives of urban dwellers and how city-state
relationships are structured by ambivalence, this article will illustrate how historians
can participate in those debates in ways that demonstrate that history matters,
but not in a linear way. These illustrations will also suggest why it is necessary
for historians to contest interpretations of Africaâs cities that construe them as
ontologically different from other cities of the world
Xenophobic Violence and the Manufacture of Difference in Africa: Introduction to the Focus Section
Over the past decade, the exploration of xenophobia, particularly of the violence xenophobia may unleash and its related effects on citizenship outside of Western Europe, has been limited. If there is a large body of research on autochthony and xenophobic practices in a number of African countries, much less is known on the outcomes of xenophobic violence and how it reshapes the making of authority, the self-definition of groups making claims to ownership over resources and the boundaries of citizenship. Analyses of collective violence in Africa have devoted much attention to conflict over land ownership, civil wars or vigilantism while quantitative studies have placed much emphasis on putative difference between labelled groups in the production of âethnic violenceâ. Inthis issue, we understand autochthony, nativism and indigeneity as local concepts used by actors in situations of xenophobia. Xenophobia is consequently understood as the systematic construction of strangers as a threat to the local or national community justifying their exclusion and sometimes their suppression. Drawing on extensive empirical research undertaken over the past four years across three countries (Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa), this issue intends to offer renewed analysis on the understanding of xenophobic violence focusing on local and urban scales using historical and ethnographic methods. Focusing on micro-level qualitative research helps avoid reflecting a monolithic image of the âstateâ, âsocietyâ or âcommunityâ and underestimating internalstruggles among elites in the production of violence; it also helps contesting analyses which exclusively look at violence inflicted on behalf of a group claiming to share an exclusive identity; it eventually allows to reconsider how processes of violent exclusion are contested, disputed, ignored or fought against by a number of actors
Introduction of Xenophobia and Citizenship: the Everyday Politics of Exclusion and Inclusion in Africa
International audienc
Xenophobic Violence and the Manufacture of Difference in Africa
Over the past decade, the exploration of xenophobia, particularly of the violence xenophobia may unleash and its related effects on citizenship outside of Western Europe, has been limited. If there is a large body of research on autochthony and xenophobic practices in a number of African countries, much less is known on the outcomes of xenophobic violence and how it reshapes the making of authority, the self-definition of groups making claims to ownership over resources and the boundaries of citizenship. Analyses of collective violence in Africa have devoted much attention to conflict over land ownership, civil wars or vigilantism while quantitative studies have placed much emphasis on putative difference between labelled groups in the production of âethnic violenceâ. In
this issue, we understand autochthony, nativism and indigeneity as local concepts used by actors in situations of xenophobia. Xenophobia is consequently understood as the systematic construction of strangers as a threat to the local or national community justifying their exclusion and sometimes their suppression. Drawing on extensive empirical research undertaken over the past four years across three countries (Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa), this issue intends to offer renewed analysis on the understanding of xenophobic violence focusing on local and urban scales using historical and ethnographic methods. Focusing on micro-level qualitative research helps avoid reflecting a monolithic image of the âstateâ, âsocietyâ or âcommunityâ and underestimating internal
struggles among elites in the production of violence; it also helps contesting analyses which exclusively look at violence inflicted on behalf of a group claiming to share an exclusive identity; it eventually allows to reconsider how processes of violent exclusion are contested, disputed, ignored or fought against by a number of actors
RĂ©siliences et ruptures en Afrique
Champ dâaction diplomatique ou militaire des puissances occidentales (Grande-Bretagne, France, Ătats-Unis), le continent africain se trouve aujourdâhui au cĆur de certains impĂ©ratifs mondiaux (intĂ©gration de la sĂ©curitĂ© au dĂ©veloppement, lutte contre la pauvretĂ©). De nouveaux acteurs internationaux se sont affirmĂ©s ces quinze derniĂšres annĂ©es : les deux puissances rĂ©gionales au sud du Sahara (lâAfrique du Sud et le Nigeria) et les deux principales organisations continentales (lâUnion Africaine et le Nouveau partenariat pour le dĂ©veloppement de lâAfrique, NEPAD) ont acquis une lĂ©gitimitĂ© internationale les autorisant Ă intervenir plus directement quâauparavant dans les affaires africaines. Il nâen demeure pas moins que la rĂ©silience dâun autoritarisme hĂ©ritĂ© des pĂ©riodes coloniales et postcoloniales persiste dans bien des pays, mĂȘme si un esprit de rĂ©sistance dĂ©mocratique sâest diffusĂ© depuis les annĂ©es 1990. Les Ătats dâAfrique fonctionnent, mĂȘme sâils sont trĂšs fragiles dans la plupart des cas. Les dĂ©fis Ă affronter restent considĂ©rables, tandis que leurs marges de manĆuvre demeurent aujourdâhui, sauf exception, trĂšs rĂ©duites.Africa has recently attracted a new wave of diplomatic and military action from major western countries (France, United Kingdom, and the United States). At the same time the continent is at the centre of new international imperatives such as poverty reduction and a more comprehensive integration of security needs into the development agenda. New international players have however emerged in the last fifteen years. The two sub-Saharan regional powers (South Africa and Nigeria) and the two principal continental organisations (the African Union and the New Partnership for Africaâs Development, NEPAD) have recently acquired a new international legitimacy which authorises them to intervene more directly into African affairs. Nevertheless the authoritarianism inherited from the colonial and postcolonial times remains strong in many countries even though a spirit of democratic resistance appears to have become widespread since the 1990s. The majority of African States function, even though they are very fragile. The challenges they face are significant whilst their room for manoeuvre is, generally, extremely limited
SSur Marie-André du Sacré-CSur, Les conditions du travail de la femme dans les pays de colonisation, 1935
Le tĂ©moignage de SĆur Marie-AndrĂ© du SacrĂ©-CĆur s'inscrit parfaitement dans la dĂ©nonciation du travail forcĂ© fĂ©minin dĂ©veloppĂ©e par les missionnaires catholiques de Haute-Volta dans la premiĂšre moitiĂ© du XXe siĂšcle. Les missions se prĂ©sentent volontiers comme les seuls lieux de protection de la population africaine contre l'exploitation abusive du travail forcĂ©. Parfois, elles recourent Ă l'opinion publique mĂ©tropolitaine, en dĂ©nonçant, dans la presse catholique, la mauvaise gestion ad..
DĂ©bat autour du livre de Kate Meagher, Identity Economics and Social Networks in Nigeria
International audienc
Participation à la table ronde T11/ Dynamiques internes et impact régional de Boko Haram au Nigeria
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