Scarcity, government, population: The problem of food in colonial Kenya, c. 1900-1952

Food security in Africa is a foremost development challenge. Dominant approaches to addressing food security concentrate on availability and increasing production. This 'productionist' focus arguably limits the capacity of government policies to address contemporary food problems. It does so by obscuring both the specific food insecurity dynamics linked to the continent's ongoing urban transitions, as well as the potential for more systemic food strategies. Yet existing research provides an inadequate historical understanding of how a production and supply-oriented bias has emerged and become established in the African context. This undermines the capacity of scholars and policymakers to critique and reform food security thought and practice. The thesis addresses this gap in knowledge by critically and historically examining the emergence of food scarcity as a specific problem of government in a particular African context: colonial Kenya. Understanding how colonial officials and other actors conceived of and responded to food scarcities in Kenya is the primary question addressed. The specific roles and duties of the state in relation to this problem are also investigated. The thesis employs a Foucauldian-inspired approach to the historical analysis of government and problematizations. Primary data were gathered from archives in the United Kingdom. The argument is that food scarcity, as a problem of government, shifted from an uncertain and localized rural issue to a risk encompassing the balance between market supply and demand at a territorial scale. The role of the state shifted from a last-resort provider of relief to a regulator of maize production and demand, with a focus on ensuring adequate supply for territorial self-sufficiency. Accordingly, anti-scarcity techniques became increasingly economic and calculative in nature, and longer term in focus. This mode of conceiving and addressing food scarcity existed in Kenya by the end of the Second World War, and was stabilized in the immediate post-war period. Elements of this system are recognizable in contemporary food security policies in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa. The thesis contributes to historical knowledge of African food insecurity and colonial government. It moves beyond previous work by focusing on Kenya, and by examining food scarcity as a distinct problem of colonial government. It enhances knowledge of the conditions under which contemporary modes of food governance have come into existence

Rapid urban development and fragmentation in a post-apartheid era : the case of Ballito, South Africa, 1994 to 2007.

Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.Since 1994 a rapid rate of large-scale development in the region of Ballito, KwaZulu Natal, has generated significant urban spatial changes. This dissertation aimed to identify and examine the factors that have generated and sustained these changes. Qualitative information, sourced from interviews conducted with various professionals and actors involved in Ballito's recent development procedures, was utilized to this extent. The study focused on localised institutional, socio-economic, historical, physical/environmental, policy- and agency-based explanations of Ballito's spatial metamorphosis. It was found that the town's resulting pattern of spatial growth reflects tendencies towards urban fragmentation that have been observed in many South African and international urban contexts. Whilst forces of globalisation have played a role in driving the urban changes of Ballito, many localised and region-specific trends have influenced the development process in unobvious manners. In particular, issues relating to local government incapacity have served to undermine state planning initiatives, which take as their focus the reversal of apartheid's socio-developmental discrepancies. Likewise, incongruencies within the South African developmental policy position have served to create uncertainty in the local urban management arena. As a corollary of these trends, the interests of private-sector and central government institutions have assumed the position of greatest power within Ballito's urban process, to the neglect of local governmental and communal concerns. It is concluded that the representative capacity of local government and disenfranchised communities must be improved as a means of promoting the delivery of complex political concerns such as 'integrated' and 'sustainable' development. It is also suggested that urban analytical models involving institutional explanations of urban change are more effective in providing recommendations for the reversal of socio-spatial inequalities than traditional, economic-based analytical models

Conceptual vectors of African urbanism : 'engaged theory-making' and 'platforms of engagement'

ERNSTSON H., LAWHON M. and DUMINY J. Conceptual vectors of African urbanism: ‘engaged theory-making’ and ‘platforms of engagement’, Regional Studies. With increasing urbanization in the global South, and Africa in particular, scholars have called attention to the limited explanatory capacity of existing theory. Ananya Roy suggests developing conceptual vectors based on regional histories and contexts. Two such vectors with relevance beyond Africa are identified and developed in this paper. The developmentalist focus of African urban work provides insights into challenges of linking academic theory with progressive changes in practice, what is called here ‘engaged theory-making’; and conditions of informality enable ‘platforms of engagement’ – particular modes of organizing towards radical incremental change. The strengths of African research are highlighted, critical questions are raised and further work is encouraged.ERNSTSON H., LAWHON M. et DUMINY J. Des vecteurs conceptuels de l’urbanisme africain: la ‘construction des théories engagées’ et des ‘plates-formes d’engagement’, Regional Studies. Face à l’urbanisation accrue dans le monde méridionale, et en Afrique en particulier, les savants ont attiré l’attention à la capacité explicative limitée de la théorie actuelle. Ananya Roy suggère la construction de vecteurs conceptuels fondés sur des histoires et des contextes régionaux. Cet article cherche à identifier et à développer deux de ces vecteurs dont la pertinence va au-delà de l’Afrique. L’accent développementaliste mis sur le travail urbain à propos de l’Afrique donne des aperçus du défi de lier la théorie savante aux changements progressifs des pratiques, ce que l’on appelle ici la ‘construction des théories engagées’; et les conditions de simplicité permettent des ‘plates-formes d’engagement’ – des modes d’organisation particuliers sur la voie des changements successifs radicaux. On souligne les points forts de la recherche africaine, il se pose des questions fondamentales et on encourage un approfondissement de la recherche.ERNSTSON H., LAWHON M. and DUMINY J.非洲城市主义的概念向量：‘参与的理论建构’与‘参与平台’，区域研究。随着 全球南方的日益城市化，特别是非洲地区，学者们已开始呼吁关注既有理论解释能力的局限性。罗伊（Ananya Roy） 建议根据区域的历史及脉络来发展概念向量，本文便将指认并建构此般超越非洲关联性的两个向量。发展主义对于非 洲城市的关注，为连结学术理论与实际的激进变革之挑战提供了洞见，在此称之为‘参与的理论建构’；而非正式性的 状态，则使得‘参与的平台’—亦即有助于达成激进且递增的变革的特别组织模式—成为可能。本文将凸显非洲研究的 长处，提出批判性的问题，并促进未来的研究工作。Swedish Research Council Formas which provided public funding through the research grant Ways of Knowing Urban Ecologies (WOK-UE) [grant number 250-2010-1372]http://www.regionalstudies.orghb201

Reconciling Big Data and Thick Data to Advance the New Urban Science and Smart City Governance

Amid growing enthusiasm for a ”new urban science” and ”smart city” approaches to urban management, ”big data” is expected to create radical new opportunities for urban research and practice. Meanwhile, anthropologists, sociologists, and human geographers, among others, generate highly contextualized and nuanced data, sometimes referred to as ‘thick data,’ that can potentially complement, refine and calibrate big data analytics while generating new interpretations of the city through diverse forms of reasoning. While researchers in a range of fields have begun to consider such questions, scholars of urban affairs have not yet engaged in these discussions. The article explores how ethnographic research could be reconciled with big data-driven inquiry into urban phenomena. We orient our critical reflections around an illustrative example: road safety in Mexico City. We argue that big and thick data can be reconciled in and through three stages of the research process: research formulation, data collection and analysis, and research output and knowledge representation

Urban Family Planning in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Critical Scoping Review

Health agendas for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) should embrace and afford greater priority to urban family planning to help achieve a number of the global Sustainable Development Goals. The urgency of doing so is heightened by emerging evidence of urban fertility stalls and reversals in some sub-Saharan African contexts as well as the significance of natural increase over migration in driving rapid urban growth. Moreover, there is new evidence from evaluations of large programmatic interventions focused on urban family planning that suggest ways to inform future programmes and policies that are adapted to local contexts. We present the key dimensions and challenges of urban growth in LMICs, offer a critical scoping review of recent research findings on urban family planning and fertility dynamics, and highlight priorities for future research

Urban Family Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: an Illustration of the Cross-sectoral Challenges of Urban Health

The multi-sectoral nature of urban health is a particular challenge, which urban family planning in sub-Saharan Africa illustrates well. Rapid urbanisation, mainly due to natural population increase in cities rather than rural–urban migration, coincides with a large unmet urban need for contraception, especially in informal settlements. These two phenomena mean urban family planning merits more attention. To what extent are the family planning and urban development sectors working together on this? Policy document analysis and stakeholder interviews from both the family planning and urban development sectors, across eight sub-Saharan African countries, show how cross-sectoral barriers can stymie efforts but also identify some points of connection which can be built upon. Differing historical, political, and policy landscapes means that entry points to promote urban family planning have to be tailored to the context. Such entry points can include infant and child health, female education and employment, and urban poverty reduction. Successful cross-sectoral advocacy for urban family planning requires not just solid evidence, but also internal consensus and external advocacy: FP actors must consensually frame the issue per local preoccupations, and then communicate the resulting key messages in concerted and targeted fashion. More broadly, success also requires that the environment be made conducive to cross-sectoral action, for example through clear requirements in the planning processes’ guidelines, structures with focal persons across sectors, and accountability for stakeholders who must make cross-sectoral action a reality