Person:

Hooper, Michael

This paper examines what motivates the participation of African slum(1) dwellers in urban social movement activities. This issue is analyzed through a case study of grassroots mobilization around evictions in Kurasini ward, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The paper uses an analytic narrative approach to account for patterns in participatory behaviour, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data gathered through interviews with 81 slum dwellers. The study shows that, contrary to the expectations of movement leaders, property owners were significantly more likely than renters to participate in a risky and time-consuming mobilization effort. The study identifies three factors that favoured owner participation: the nature of expected payoffs from participation; greater belief in their efficacy of action; and greater connection to place.

This article investigates whether urban social movement participation influences post-eviction resettlement success. Pre- and post-eviction interviews were conducted with sixty-four slum dwellers from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, including members of the Tanzania Federation of the Urban Poor (TFUP). The majority of interviewees reported improved post-eviction housing but adverse employment impacts. TFUP membership was negatively associated with employment outcomes, particularly for property owners. Expecting TFUP to secure housing for them, members delayed finding accommodation. This led to resettlement farther from their former homes and negatively affected employment. Women were especially vulnerable following eviction, with their post-eviction pay falling because of the nature and location of their pre-eviction work.

This paper employs extensive interviews to examine the ways in which perceptions of renting — on the part of renters, owners and other key actors in the development process — influenced the dynamics of participation around two recent urban development projects in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study responds to concerns that participatory planning too frequently treats communities as homogenous and overlooks barriers to participation faced by marginalized groups, such as renters. The results show that renters were unwilling and often unable to participate due to perceptions, held by themselves and by others, of renter transience and inconsequentiality. These perceptions led to a cycle of non-participation in which policymakers gave renters' needs little attention in plans and renters were disinclined to participate in mobilization. The results suggest that barriers to renter participation could be reduced if their concerns were proactively given more weight in urban development plans.