Chapter 7. Crisis, Work and the Meanings of Mobility on the Zimbabwean-South African Border
Submitted by Keith Breckenridge on 12 November, 2020 - 18:01
Publication Type:
Book ChapterSource:
Social im/mobilities in Africa: ethnographic approaches, Berghahn Books, New York : Oxford (2020)ISBN:
978-1-78920-485-8Keywords:
1960-, Africa, Social conditions, Social mobility, Social statusAbstract:
"Grounded in both theory and ethnography, this volume insists on taking social positionality seriously when accounting for Africa's current age of polarizing wealth. To this end, the book advocates a multidimensional view of African societies, in which social positions consist of a variety of intersecting social powers - or 'capitals' - including wealth, education, social relationships, religion, ethnicity, and others. Accordingly, the notion of social im/mobilities emphasizes the complexities of current changes, taking us beyond the prism of a one-dimensional social ladder, for social moves cannot always be apprehended through the binaries of 'gains' and 'losses'"–