Africa's Informal Workers: Collective Agency, Alliances and Transnational Organizing in Urban Africa (Africa Now) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848134525 ISBN 13: 9781848134522

Verlag: Continnuum-3PL, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Africa's Informal Workers is a vigorous examination of the informalization and casualization of work, which is changing livelihoods in Africa and beyond.

Gathering cases from nine countries and cities across sub-Saharan Africa, and from a range of sectors, this volume goes beyond the usual focus on household 'coping strategies' and individual agency, addressing the growing number of collective organizations through which informal workers make themselves visible and articulate their demands and interests. The emerging picture is that of a highly diverse landscape of organized actors, providing grounds for tension but also opportunities for alliance. The collection examines attempts at organizing across the formal-informal work spheres, and explores the novel trend of transnational organizing by informal workers.

Part of the ground-breaking Africa Now series, Africa's Informal Workers is a timely exploration of deep, ongoing economic, political and social transformations.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ilda Lindell is a researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute and an associate professor of human geography at Stockholm University. She has authored book chapters and journal articles in Urban Studies, Habitat International, Geografiska Annaler and Third World Quarterly. She is also the author of Walking the Tight Rope (2002).

The Nordic Africa Institute (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet) is a center for research, documentation and information on modern Africa. Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the Institute is dedicated to providing timely, critical and alternative research and analysis of Africa and to co-operation with African researchers. As a hub and a meeting place for a growing field of research and analysis the Institute strives to put knowledge of African issues within reach for scholars, policy makers, politicians, media, students and the general public. The Institute is financed jointly by the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden).

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Africa's Informal Workers

Collective Agency, Alliances and Transnational Organizing in Urban Africa

By Ilda Lindell

Zed Books Ltd

Copyright © 2010 Ilda Lindell
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84813-452-2

Contents

Acronyms, vii, 
Introduction: the changing politics of informality – collective organizing, alliances and scales of engagement Ilda Lindell, 1, 
PART ONE The political dynamics of collective organizing, 
1 Seen but not heard: urban voice and citizenship for street traders Alison Brown and Michal Lyons, 33, 
2 The politics of vulnerability: exit, voice and capture in three Nigerian informal manufacturing clusters Kate Meagher, 46, 
3 Women leaders and the sense of power: clientelism and citizenship at the Dantokpa market in Cotonou, Benin Ebbe Prag, 65, 
PART TWO Constructing alliances: organizing across the formal-informal 'divide', 
4 Alliances across the formal-informal divide: South African debates and Nigerian experiences Gunilla Andrae and Björn Beckman, 85, 
5 Self-organized informal workers and trade union initiatives in Malawi: organizing the informal economy Ignasio Malizani Jimu, 99, 
6 Moments of resistance: the struggle against informalization in Cape Town David Christoffer Jordhus-Lier, 115, 
7 The possibilities for collective organization of informal port workers in Tema, Ghana Owusu Boampong, 130, 
8 The 'China challenge': the global dimensions of activism and the informal economy in Dakar Suzanne Scheld, 153, 
9 Passport, please: the Cross-Border Traders Association in Zambia Wilma S. Nchito and Karen Tranberg Hansen, 169, 
10 Informal workers in Kenya and transnational organizing: networking and leveraging resources Winnie V. Mitullah, 184, 
Notes, 203, 
Bibliography, 207, 
About the contributors, 226, 
Index, 229, 

CHAPTER 1

Seen but not heard: urban voice and citizenship for street traders

Alison Brown and Michal Lyons

Introduction: the informal economy of the urban South

In an age of globalization the street has become the new locus of employment for the urban poor. This chapter draws on case studies from two continents to explore the concept of urban voice for street traders. Over the last twenty years, many developing-country cities have seen a rapid growth in the informal economy. Street trade is particularly evident in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where growth in urban populations has been accompanied by limited job creation among the poor (Cohen 2003; Carr and Chen 2002).

Precise measurement of informality is difficult, but informal employment is thought to account for around 60 per cent of all urban employment in Africa, and in India to employ over 95 per cent of non-agricultural women workers (ILO 2002a: 12-16). Street traders are the largest groups in the informal economy, after home-based workers, which together represent 10-35 per cent of the nonagricultural workforce in developing countries, in comparison with 5 per cent of the total workforce in developed countries. Women often comprise a large proportion of street vendors in developing countries (ILO 2002c), except where social restrictions prevail.

The chapter first briefly summarizes debates on the concept of urban voice, and its relation to social capital. It then explores the associational structures of street traders and the institutional landscape in which they operate. Drawing on work in Africa and Asia, the chapter then argues that the representational space afforded to street traders cannot be separated from public discourse on the informal economy. This discussion sets the context for a comparative study of traders' associations in four cities – Dakar, Accra, Dar es Salaam and Kathmandu – based on work undertaken separately by the authors in 2003–08.

Social capital and urban voice Urban voice is the means by which communities influence decision-making on issues that affect their lives, and draws heavily on social capital – the social networks based on norms, reciprocity and trust among their members (Putnam 1993; Pickvance 2003).

Social capital is recognized as a central basis of the urban economy, cultivated by the wealthy to protect and enhance their assets (Bourdieu 1984/2002) and by the poor to sustain their livelihoods and withstand adverse trends and shocks (Rakodi and Lloyd-Jones 2002). Social capital is transformed as traditional ties are adapted in urban contexts, for example through relationships that underpin changing methods of working or personal loans (Kumar and Matsusaka 2005; Lyons and Snoxell 2005a, 2005b; Buckley 1997; Phillips 2002). Critics argue that the concept has been hijacked by development agencies as a means of compensating for the neoliberal project and its lack of support for the poor (Pickvance 2003; Mayer 2003).

However, social networks and grassroots organizations are complex, facilitated by a wide range of factors including kinship, ethnic tribal and village groups, trade unions, NGOs, religious organizations, government agencies and political parties (Mitlin 2001). These are supported by a rich panoply of associational activities, for example: professional societies; trade unions; chambers of commerce; choirs; youth clubs; developmental charities; churches and religious groups; ethnic associations; welfare groups; credit associations; burial societies and many more (Tostensen et al. 2001: 17) based on networks and ties, which often go unrecognized by the state.

Global trends of democratization and decentralization have opened up new political space in which the urban poor can voice their needs, but their success depends on the institutions they can access and their ability to organize (Devas 2005). Formal processes of participation established by governments have tended to be ineffective or purloined by elites, and the extent to which the urban poor are heard depends largely on their organizing skills, and use of citizenship or participatory rights conferred by the state (Friedman 2006).

Traders' associational structures Traders' associations and organizations are rooted in tradition and the culture of the urban landscape in which they exist. For market and street traders, social capital – whether formally established as an association, or informal social networks – enables them to manage an intrinsically competitive environment and to negotiate with local government and other powerful actors (Lyons and Snoxell 2005a). Social capital allows traders to move from austerity to take advantage of new opportunities opened up by economic liberalization (Lourenço-Lindell 2002: 228).

The role of social capital in supporting traders' activities, together with the inevitability of informal sector livelihoods, is well recognized by agencies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) (Carr and Chen 2002), and informal workers' organizations are seen as key players in the pro-poor policy debate – unions, cooperatives, associations or other representative groups (Chen et al. 2002). Yet, at urban as well as at national level, micro-enterprises rarely influence decision-making to their advantage against established interests unless they are organized (Rakodi 2003).

Trader and market associations fall into two groups – formal associations recognized by the authorities, and informal kinship, religious or other social networks. Both may provide a means for civic engagement with institutions and...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Continnuum-3PL
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1848134525
• ISBN 13: 9781848134522
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 248
• Herausgeber: Lindell Ilda
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland