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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Soft Resistance in the Everyday Life: A Life-Strategy of the Maragoli Migrants in Nairobi
Author:Matsuda, MotojiISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Senri Ethnological Studies
Issue:31
Pages:1-82
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:Avalogoli
migrants
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Urbanization and Migration
Abstract:This paper examines a source of power for initiative and resistance in the process by which ordinary Africans run their everyday affairs - what the author has termed 'soft resistance'. In the face of enormous modern forces (such as the modern State system, the capitalist market economy and Christianity) brought into Africa by European invaders, ordinary African migrants have put up a 'soft resistance' in their urban everyday lives and have eventually 'tamed' these forces from within. The paper explains the mechanism and dynamism of 'soft resistance' using the case of the Maragoli migrants in Nairobi, Kenya. It presents three sources of African initiative and creativity in Maragoli migrants' everyday life: the invention and development of ethnic identity; the formation and development of mutual aid associations among the Maragoli migrants; and the creation of urban ritual and the manipulation of ritual discourses in everyday life, paying particular attention to the 'msambwa' discourses used among the Maragoli in relation to death. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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