Matatu Work

Gender, Labor, and Mobility in Nairobi

Professor Meghan E. Ference

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Hardback

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English

James Currey
05 November 2024

Urban communities; Gender studies, gender groups; Sociology: work & labour; Social & cultural anthropology; Transport planning & policy

Series: Making & Remaking the African City: Studies in Urban Africa

Focuses on the lives and labour of the men and women who work in Nairobi's publicly operated, privately owned minibus taxis, matatu.

How can mass transit systems be designed in ways that respond to the needs of urban citizens in the midst of an impending climate crisis? What strategies can transport workers employ as they adapt to shifts in the global economy? This book focuses on the lives and labour of the men - and, importantly, women - who work in Nairobi's publicly operated, privately owned minibus taxis, matatu, to examine questions about access to urban public space, gendered regimes of work, and neoliberalism that lie at the heart of debates on the future of African cities.

Providing an in-depth view of workers' routines and the unwritten rules that govern informal transport sectors, this book is an ethnography of Nairobi's popular transportation workforce, with a focus on strategies that circulate both economic (cash, vehicle investments) and symbolic capital (new linguistic codes, music, and elements of style) in ways that keep the city moving. In the face of a rapidly changing urban and global landscapes Matatu Work considers the ways in which urban transport has provided expression of marginalized perspectives as well as decolonial struggles. Shedding new light on transportation practices and urban growth, the book invites the reader to take another look at the ways in which public transportation is not just an urban solution to practical problems of space and movement, but also how it is a place of sociability, performance, protest, and consumption and central to the making of sustainable cities.

By: Professor Meghan E. Ference
Imprint: James Currey
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781847013972
ISBN 10: 184701397X
Series: Making & Remaking the African City: Studies in Urban Africa
Pages: 236
Publication Date: 05 November 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

MEGHAN E. FERENCE is an Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department at Brooklyn College, CUNY, USA.