Ambitions of Cidade: War-Displacement and concepts of the urban among bairro residents in Benguela, Angola

The dissertation explores concepts of upward social mobility, proper personhood and processes of social change as a result of the rural - urban migration provoked by the war in post-colonial Angola between 1975 and 2002. The study focuses on the city of Benguela, which received large numbers of war-displaced people, most of whom settled in bairros, informal settlements surrounding the cidade, the formally structured area of the town. The experience of displacement and establishment in urban areas is not marked only by material struggles and recent experiences of violence, displacement, humanitarian aid and so on, but also by social and historical constructions of rural - urban relationships and of urban space. These frame actors' choices, decisions and actions. I show that 'war-displaced people' are individuals with a history and in history. Drawing on ethnographic work conducted in Bairro Calombotão, surveys, life histories and historical data, I show how classificatory categories shape imaginings and concepts of the urban and the forms of life appropriate to it. The categories of 'mato (bush) and cidade (city)', 'avanço (advancement) and atraso (backwardness)', developed and non-developed are often used to describe rural'urban relationships and are strongly entrenched in Angola. Following Bourdieu (1979, 1980), I argue that these categories function as 'classificatory schemes', that is, as socially and historically constructed and embodied structures of perception and appreciation. In exploring the classificatory power of categories, I sought to understand what I call 'ontological development', people's attempts to become avançados (advanced, developed). I show that cidade is not only the place where it is possible to live a proper material life, but it is also the place where one becomes a proper person. I draw on theories that ground analysis in history and structural relations. However, mine is not a determinist argument. Using the concept of conjuncture I highlight possibilities for mobility and social change. The notion of vital conjunctures (Johnson-Hanks, 2002) helps me understand social change in a country where a succession of wars forced considerable and sometimes abrupt contextual change onto many people. But, the outcome of vital conjunctures does not necessarily result in significant change at either an individual or a social level. I therefore propose the analytic concept of 'transformative conjunctures' to demonstrate how change is possible.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Social Anthropology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Rogue, Sandra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ross, Fiona C

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4164

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/4164