{"title":"反叛的愿望吗?莫桑比克马普托脆弱的中产阶级乌托邦","authors":"M. Nielsen, Paul Jenkins","doi":"10.1080/21681392.2020.1743190","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Based on ethnographic data from Maputo, Mozambique, this article explores middle-classness as an often-utopic aspiration articulated through particular forms of divides, that assert themselves by continuously deferring the stabilization of a supposedly growing middle-class population. As we argue, however, it is precisely by way of this deferral that new forms of urban citizenship are produced – that are available to the assumed members of the ‘middle-class’, as well as potentially to other residents enacting middle-classness as an urban ideal. After a brief review of how middle-class areas can be identified, the paper discusses the above argument through a comparison between two of the largest state-sponsored urban planning initiatives to be implemented in Mozambique in recent years. The first is in the Intaka Community on the northern periphery of Maputo, where residents re-configure the material aesthetics of the area in order to separate themselves from a collective that is based on supposed state-sanctioned middle-class values – but to which they do not want to remain attached. The second is in the KaTembe peninsula, where squatters have invaded the building site for the ‘New City’ and commenced building reed huts and laying foundations for cement-block houses in order to be resettled elsewhere. Strikingly, in both instances, middle-classness seems to be actualized by groups of urbanites that do not desire typical spatially envisioned middle-class status. However, the surprising effect is that this still articulates a particular conceptualization of middle-classness with a dominant utopian ideology for urban living.","PeriodicalId":37966,"journal":{"name":"Critical African Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2020-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"11","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Insurgent aspirations? Weak middle-class utopias in Maputo, Mozambique\",\"authors\":\"M. Nielsen, Paul Jenkins\",\"doi\":\"10.1080/21681392.2020.1743190\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Based on ethnographic data from Maputo, Mozambique, this article explores middle-classness as an often-utopic aspiration articulated through particular forms of divides, that assert themselves by continuously deferring the stabilization of a supposedly growing middle-class population. As we argue, however, it is precisely by way of this deferral that new forms of urban citizenship are produced – that are available to the assumed members of the ‘middle-class’, as well as potentially to other residents enacting middle-classness as an urban ideal. After a brief review of how middle-class areas can be identified, the paper discusses the above argument through a comparison between two of the largest state-sponsored urban planning initiatives to be implemented in Mozambique in recent years. The first is in the Intaka Community on the northern periphery of Maputo, where residents re-configure the material aesthetics of the area in order to separate themselves from a collective that is based on supposed state-sanctioned middle-class values – but to which they do not want to remain attached. The second is in the KaTembe peninsula, where squatters have invaded the building site for the ‘New City’ and commenced building reed huts and laying foundations for cement-block houses in order to be resettled elsewhere. Strikingly, in both instances, middle-classness seems to be actualized by groups of urbanites that do not desire typical spatially envisioned middle-class status. However, the surprising effect is that this still articulates a particular conceptualization of middle-classness with a dominant utopian ideology for urban living.\",\"PeriodicalId\":37966,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Critical African Studies\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":1.3000,\"publicationDate\":\"2020-03-23\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"11\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Critical African Studies\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2020.1743190\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"ANTHROPOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Critical African Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2020.1743190","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Insurgent aspirations? Weak middle-class utopias in Maputo, Mozambique
Based on ethnographic data from Maputo, Mozambique, this article explores middle-classness as an often-utopic aspiration articulated through particular forms of divides, that assert themselves by continuously deferring the stabilization of a supposedly growing middle-class population. As we argue, however, it is precisely by way of this deferral that new forms of urban citizenship are produced – that are available to the assumed members of the ‘middle-class’, as well as potentially to other residents enacting middle-classness as an urban ideal. After a brief review of how middle-class areas can be identified, the paper discusses the above argument through a comparison between two of the largest state-sponsored urban planning initiatives to be implemented in Mozambique in recent years. The first is in the Intaka Community on the northern periphery of Maputo, where residents re-configure the material aesthetics of the area in order to separate themselves from a collective that is based on supposed state-sanctioned middle-class values – but to which they do not want to remain attached. The second is in the KaTembe peninsula, where squatters have invaded the building site for the ‘New City’ and commenced building reed huts and laying foundations for cement-block houses in order to be resettled elsewhere. Strikingly, in both instances, middle-classness seems to be actualized by groups of urbanites that do not desire typical spatially envisioned middle-class status. However, the surprising effect is that this still articulates a particular conceptualization of middle-classness with a dominant utopian ideology for urban living.
期刊介绍:
Critical African Studies seeks to return Africanist scholarship to the heart of theoretical innovation within each of its constituent disciplines, including Anthropology, Political Science, Sociology, History, Law and Economics. We offer authors a more flexible publishing platform than other journals, allowing them greater space to develop empirical discussions alongside theoretical and conceptual engagements. We aim to publish scholarly articles that offer both innovative empirical contributions, grounded in original fieldwork, and also innovative theoretical engagements. This speaks to our broader intention to promote the deployment of thorough empirical work for the purposes of sophisticated theoretical innovation. We invite contributions that meet the aims of the journal, including special issue proposals that offer fresh empirical and theoretical insights into African Studies debates.