Examining Power and Inequality through Informality in Urban Africa

As increasing numbers of Africans live in cities, their strategies for living and surviving challenge prevailing theories and models of urban development. Scholars of poverty and development have given more attention to rural areas than to urban ones, yet urban lifeways need more study because people’s material lives in the city differ significantly from those in rural areas. Urban residents are exposed to more ethnic, religious, and socio-economic diversity than rural residents (Jha et al. 2005) . Urban areas are also highly monetized, and the lives of especially the poorest residents are determined almost entirely by market forces. Money thus becomes the focus of city dwellers’ attention: the means by which relationships are negotiated, the measure of success, and a necessary condition for well-being. This volume defines ‘urban’ as residential aggregations in which the majority of residents work in non-agricultural activities, which generally means they are...