Not exactly like the phoenix - but rising all the same: reconstructing displaced livelihoods in post-clean-up Harare

Kamete, A.Y. (2012) Not exactly like the phoenix - but rising all the same: reconstructing displaced livelihoods in post-clean-up Harare. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 30(2), pp. 243-261. (doi: 10.1068/d2408)

Abstract

Studies of displacement often emphasise massive physical dislocation. In this paper, based on a study of displaced youth in Harare, Zimbabwe, I argue for the freeing of the concept from ‘physical uprooting’ and build a case for focusing on in situ displacement and displaced livelihoods. I consider attempts by youth to reconstitute displaced livelihoods in the wake of ‘cleansing’ by the state. I scrutinise evolving recovery tactics in the face of determined efforts by the authorities to repress the ‘filth’, demonstrating that the youth’s resistance comprises a myriad of spatialised recovery strategies for dealing with spatialised repression. I argue that it is the mutation of the youth’s modes of operation that have enabled them to (re)contaminate and (re)subvert the ‘purified’ spaces.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kamete, Professor Amin
• Authors: Kamete, A.Y.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
• ISSN: 0263-7758