Man Must Chop
Agency of Potholes, Informal Road Menders and Socioeconomic Survival on a Sub-Urban Road in Nigeria
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4382186 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ọmọ́máyọ̀wá Ọláwálé Àbàtì (0000-0003-1300-824X, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 5-20 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0309-1317 • E-ISSN: 1468-2427 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1468-2427.13287 |
| OpenAlex | W4405880130 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 28 |
Owing to Nigeria's poor road maintenance culture, informal road menders (IRMs) have emerged who fill potholes on urban and sub-urban roads in exchange for money from road users. This article interrogates the micropolitics of this phenomenon as a relatively new means of informal livelihood within the context of the ethnography of road infrastructure, informal agency and the everyday struggle for socioeconomic survival. Conceiving informal road mending as a livelihood offers a promising lens for discussing how IRMs gain and retain access to space, navigate risks, and harness relationships with other road users and state institutions along the road. Drawing on conversations with drivers and commuters during 'go-alongs' in public transport and on interviews with IRMs, private car owners and state regulatory agents, the article shows how IRMs and other road users appropriate the risks and opportunities associated with potholes as socioeconomic resources through which they leverage the precarious road transport experience in the country. This contributes to the literature on the ethnography of road infrastructures and the micropolitics of informal work in urban Africa
Business · Casual · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnography · Geography · Informal sector · Livelihood · Political science · Population · Social science · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Engineering · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Water Governance and Infrastructure
Signal and Noise
Non-places
Ethnography on the Road
Environmental sanitation in Nigeria
Road transportation as lifeline of the economy in Western Nigeria, 1920 to 1952
Suturing the City. Living Together in Congo's Urban Worlds
Informal urban governance and predatory politics in Africa
Roads that Separate
Roads and Anthropology
Rush and Relax
Unlicensed Road Menders and Road Maintenance in Ekiti, Nigeria
Nothing is Straight in Zimbabwe
Death traps
Life is War'
Policing Is Not Work
Analysis of a Social Situation in Modern Zululand
Road Mythographies
Street Phenomenology
Blackouts and Progress
Death in Slow Motion
Accidents Have No Cure! Road Death as Industrial Catastrophe in Eastern Africa
A share in the sands
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |