IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v32y2017i7p744-762.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contesting displacement and the struggle for survival: The case of subsistence fisher folk in Durban, South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Brij Maharaj

Abstract

In keeping with the ‘neoliberal assault’, public spaces in many cities of the global North and increasingly in the South have been appropriated and privatized for the benefit of the consumption needs of the urban elite, while simultaneously excluding and expelling the poor, and depriving them of their livelihoods. This paper analyses the displacement and struggles of subsistence fisher folk during upgrading of the port entrance, and the regeneration of Durban's beachfront in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and their exclusion from what was once public space which they had used for decades. Coastal zones provide opportunities for recreation and subsistence fishing, and Durban was no exception. As preparations for FIFA 2010 advanced, traditional public fishing zones along Durban's beachfront were declared private property, and subsistence fisher folk were denied access in order to make the area attractive for international tourists, with serious implications for their livelihoods. The reaction of the fisher folk to the various restrictions included protest marches; vigils at the prohibited sites; defying the authorities; as well as appeals to the Transnet National Port Authority, Durban Municipality and provincial and central governments to resolve the impasse. As a result of these various forms of public activism, and engagement with the authorities, the fisher folk were able to reclaim some of their lost space.

Suggested Citation

  • Brij Maharaj, 2017. "Contesting displacement and the struggle for survival: The case of subsistence fisher folk in Durban, South Africa," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(7), pages 744-762, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:32:y:2017:i:7:p:744-762
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094217734330
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094217734330
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094217734330?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Marcuse, 2009. "From critical urban theory to the right to the city," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2-3), pages 185-197, June.
    2. Poe, Melissa R. & Levin, Phillip S. & Tolimieri, Nick & Norman, Karma, 2015. "Subsistence fishing in a 21st century capitalist society: From commodity to gift," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 241-250.
    3. Jenkins, David, 2015. "Impacts of neoliberal policies on non-market fishing economies on the Yukon River, Alaska," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 356-365.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xue, Jin, 2014. "Is eco-village/urban village the future of a degrowth society? An urban planner's perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 130-138.
    2. Alexandra Titz & Sosten S. Chiotha, 2019. "Pathways for Sustainable and Inclusive Cities in Southern and Eastern Africa through Urban Green Infrastructure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, May.
    3. Shenjing He, 2012. "Two Waves of Gentrification and Emerging Rights Issues in Guangzhou, China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(12), pages 2817-2833, December.
    4. Peter Marcuse, 2010. "In defense of theory in practice," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1-2), pages 4-12, February.
    5. Sergio Belda-Miquel & Jordi Peris Blanes & Alexandre Frediani, 2016. "Institutionalization and Depoliticization of the Right to the City: Changing Scenarios for Radical Social Movements," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 321-339, March.
    6. Cardullo, Paolo, 2017. "Gentrification in the mesh? Ethnography of Open Wireless Network - Deptford," OSF Preprints jm68s, Center for Open Science.
    7. Justus Uitermark & Walter Nicholls & Maarten Loopmans, 2012. "Cities and Social Movements: Theorizing beyond the Right to the City," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(11), pages 2546-2554, November.
    8. Michele Lancione, 2014. "Entanglements of faith: Discourses, practices of care and homeless people in an Italian City of Saints," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(14), pages 3062-3078, November.
    9. Sören Becker & James Angel & Matthias Naumann, 2020. "Energy democracy as the right to the city: Urban energy struggles in Berlin and London," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1093-1111, September.
    10. Bliss, Sam & Egler, Megan, 2020. "Ecological Economics Beyond Markets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    11. Hyun Bang Shin, 2011. "Right to the city and critical reflections on property rights activism in China’s urban renewal contexts," CASE Papers case156, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    12. Veikko Eranti & Taina Meriluoto, 2023. "PLURALITY IN URBAN POLITICS: Conflict and Commonality in Mouffe and Thévenot," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 693-709, September.
    13. Andrés M Cisneros-Montemayor & Daniel Pauly & Lauren V Weatherdon & Yoshitaka Ota, 2016. "A Global Estimate of Seafood Consumption by Coastal Indigenous Peoples," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Witten, Karen & Kearns, Robin & Carroll, Penelope, 2015. "Urban inclusion as wellbeing: Exploring children's accounts of confronting diversity on inner city streets," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 349-357.
    15. Isbell, Carina & Tobin, Daniel & Reynolds, Travis, 2021. "Motivations for maintaining crop diversity: Evidence from Vermont's seed systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    16. Dalia Perkumienė & Rasa Pranskūnienė, 2019. "Overtourism: Between the Right to Travel and Residents’ Rights," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-17, April.
    17. Shomon Shamsuddin & Lawrence J Vale, 2017. "Lease it or lose it? The implications of New York’s Land Lease Initiative for public housing preservation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(1), pages 137-157, January.
    18. Kurt Iveson, 2010. "Some critical reflections on being critical: Reading for deviance, dominance or difference?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 434-441, August.
    19. Femke Van Noorloos, 2013. "Residential Tourism and Multiple Mobilities: Local Citizenship and Community Fragmentation in Costa Rica," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, February.
    20. Cesare Di Feliciantonio, 2017. "Spaces of the Expelled as Spaces of the Urban Commons? Analysing the Re-emergence of Squatting Initiatives in Rome," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 708-725, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:32:y:2017:i:7:p:744-762. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.