Africa’s middle class

Building houses and constructing identities in the small town of Buea, Cameroon

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11670386
AutoresBrian Page (0000-0003-2833-8137, University College London, autor correspondente), Emile Sunjo (0000-0002-4545-0369, University of Buea)
Ano2017
Volume39
Fascículo1
Páginas75-103
Data de publicação2017-02-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02723638.2017.1286839
OpenAlexW2590490360
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas25
Referências citadas84

Across Africa households are commissioning new domestic buildings for their own use or to rent out rather than waiting for governments to supply urban shelter. We conceptualize this as two interwoven processes: building houses for a new middle class and the building of a new middle class identity. We draw particular attention to the impact of international migration on these processes. The paper uses quantitative data from building permits and qualitative data from 29 interviews and walk-round tours with homeowners and government officials in Buea, Cameroon. Despite some significant caveats (related to housing the urban poor, regulating building standards, and lost local government revenue), we argue that these individually initiated building projects do a reasonable job of meeting local demand for shelter. However, from the perspective of identity-building these buildings are less successful. Whilst homeowners take considerable pride in their building projects, the statements that these structures make about their identities are not always “read” by their neighbours in the way owners hope. New housing is the lens through which Buea’s residents interpret growing levels of inequality and its associated social tensions

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