Ulica afrykańskiego miasta jako przestrzeń życia na przykładzie Lomé, stolicy Togo

Abstract

The article presents the functions and significance of a street in an African city, based on the example of Lome, the capital of Togo. The author analyzes the material collected during many years of field research, arranging it in the following dimensions: community, identity, trade, citizenship, and accessibility. The street of an African city is located in between the private and the public space. To many residents, it is a living environment, where everyday life: work, provisioning, interaction and pleasure, is played out. It is a place of intensive social relations, which are expressed in the field of connections, economic exchange, communica-tion by the transmission of rumors, but also through solidarity and creativity in crisis situations. The street, as a living space for thousands of people and a source of livelihood, turns out to be indispensable for survival strategies, although it can also be “predatory”, because of the danger of violence and theft and because of the occult forces.