Living with uncertainty

Disappearing modernities and polluted urbanity in post-2000 Harare, Zimbabwe

Bibliographic Data

ID3613552
AuthorsShannon Morreira (0000-0001-6591-4565, University of Cape Town, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume36
Issue2
Pages352-365
Publication date2010-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0253-3952 • E-ISSN: 1940-7874
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02533951003790520
OpenAlexW2013235191
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited13

Most studies of Zimbabwean migration and the country’s politico‐economic crisis focus on the material aspects of these two issues. In this article, through dual‐sited ethnographic work, I illustrate the symbolisms and meanings that are entangled within political and economic decline in urban Zimbabwe. Using data from fieldwork in Zimbabwe and South Africa, I argue that ‘crisis’ has carried with it a re‐configuration of the meanings associated with urbanity. This leads to a contradiction between how the state and citizens view ‘proper’ modernity. In combination with political factors, the state’s attempts to maintain modernity have led to a paradigm of pollution being associated with poor urbanites. This symbolism and its correspondent reality were found to have influenced the migration of informants in South Africa. It is thus not only economic and political relations that are at stake in present‐day Zimbabwe

Economics · Economy · Environmental protection · Geography · Urbanity · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Urban and Rural Development Challenges

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