Precarious Urbanism : Displacement, Belonging and the Reconstruction of Somali Cities

"This book explores relationships between war, displacement and city-making. Focusing on people seeking refuge in Somali cities after being forced to migrate by violence, environmental shocks or economic pressures, it highlights how these populations are actively transforming urban space. Using first-hand testimonies and participatory photography by urban in-migrants, the book documents and analyses the micropolitics of urban camp management, evictions and gentrification, and the networked labour of displaced populations that underpins growing urban economies. Central throughout is a critical analysis of how the discursive figure of the 'internally displaced person' is co-produced by various actors. The book argues that this label exerts significant power in structuring socio-economic inequalities and the politics of group belonging within different Somali cities connected through protracted histories of conflict-related migration." Front Cover Series Precarious Urbanism: Displacement, Belonging and the Reconstruction of Somali Cities Copyright information Table of contents List of Figures and Table About the Authors Acknowledgements 1 Introduction: Researching Precarious Urbanism and the Displacement–Urbanization Nexus Methodological considerations: displacement narratives The power to categorize and classify Pictures, visibility and power Visualizing security, exhibiting power The structure of the book 2 Histories of Conflict and Mobility: The View from the City Mogadishu Baidoa Bosaso Hargeisa Conclusion: Labelling and categorizing mobilities 3 Camp Urbanization and Humanitarian Entrepreneurship Humanitarian entrepreneurship and camp urbanization in Mogadishu Comparisons with Baidoa, Bosaso and Hargeisa Conclusion: The camp becomes the city? 4 Improvising Infrastructure: The Micropolitics of Camp Life Toilet technologies: embodied infrastructure Water technologies: differentiating and gendering urban life Health practices and infrastructures Investing (and improvising) for the future: schooling Conclusion: Lived infrastructures – disruptions and the commodification of connections 5 Techno Relief? Connectivity, Inequality and Mobile Urban Livelihoods Urban marginalization and gendered labour Mobiles, mobility, and the (self)management of precarity Mobile connectivity, precarious labour and other livelihood strategies Conclusion: Interrogating innovation 6 Liminal Durability: Belonging in the City and Enduring Solutions Problematizing displacement and institutionalizing durable solutions Imagining a good future: current and future mobilities ‘This camp is the town’: resettlement on Bosaso’s urban periphery Dilemmas of distance: resettlement schemes around Hargeisa Pan-Somali citizenship: layers of belonging and discrimination Contested citizenship: territorializing displacement and political belonging Conclusion: Making difference legible 7 Conclusion: Living at the Precarious Edges of Planetary Urbanization Appendix Notes References Index