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Boundary Work: Becoming Middle Class in Suburban Dar es Salaam

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  • Claire Mercer

Abstract

Suburban space provides a useful window onto contemporary class practices in Africa, where it is difficult to identify social classes on the basis of income or occupation. In this article I argue that the middle classes and the suburbs are mutually constitutive in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam. Using interviews with residents and local government officials in the city's northern suburbs, I discuss the material and representational practices of middle‐class boundary work in relation to land and landscape. If the middle classes do not presently constitute a coherent political‐economic force, they are nevertheless transforming the city's former northern peri‐urban zones into desirable suburban residential neighbourhoods.

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  • Claire Mercer, 2020. "Boundary Work: Becoming Middle Class in Suburban Dar es Salaam," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 521-536, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:44:y:2020:i:3:p:521-536
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.12733
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Pollio & Liza Rose Cirolia & Jack Ong'iro Odeo, 2023. "ALGORITHMIC SUTURING: Platforms, Motorcycles and the ‘Last Mile’ in Urban Africa," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(6), pages 957-974, November.
    2. Paul Hutchings & Simon Willcock & Kenneth Lynch & Dilshaad Bundhoo & Tim Brewer & Sarah Cooper & Daniel Keech & Sneha Mekala & Prajna Paramita Mishra & Alison Parker & Charlie M. Shackleton & Kongala , 2022. "Understanding rural–urban transitions in the Global South through peri-urban turbulence," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(11), pages 924-930, November.
    3. Paula Meth & Tom Goodfellow & Alison Todes & Sarah Charlton, 2021. "Conceptualizing African Urban Peripheries," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 985-1007, November.
    4. J Miguel Kanai & Seth Schindler, 2022. "Infrastructure-led development and the peri-urban question: Furthering crossover comparisons," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(8), pages 1597-1617, June.

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