Transcultural tension and the politics of sewage management in (post) colonial Lagos

Bibliographic Data

ID3617825
AuthorsJohn Uwa (0000-0002-3523-729X, University of Lagos, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume44
Issue2
Pages221-238
Publication date2018-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0253-3952 • E-ISSN: 1940-7874
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02533952.2018.1481684
OpenAlexW2886232810
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited14

The culture of sewage management in Lagos dates back to pit latrines (Shalanga) in precolonial Lagos; this culture gave way to bucket latrines in the wake of British colonial administration in Lagos and then to mobile toilets in postcolonial Lagos. The introduction of bucket latrines created a new job category known as Agbepo (night-soil men) and a new material practice in the management of faecal waste among ethnicities and races inhabiting the urban space of Lagos. This material practice, I argue, created ethnic tensions and reveals the extent to which varying perceptions of sewage management determine how people perceive and relate with one another in Lagos. To validate my argument, my paper proceeds from the vantage point of the phenomenology of disgust, drawing on Chinua Achebe's No Longer at Ease, archival materials, and selected live interviews to examine how varying perceptions of sewage management play out in the construction of relationships in Lagos

Archaeology · Colonialism · Ethnic group · Geography · Latrine · Perception · Political science · Politics · Sanitation · Sewage · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Engineering · Law · Psychology · South African History and Culture · South Asian Cinema and Culture · Environmental Engineering

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