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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Between exit and voice: informality and the spaces of popular agency |
| Author: | Lindell, Ilda |
| Year: | 2009 |
| Periodical: | African Studies Quarterly (ISSN 1093-2658) |
| Volume: | 11 |
| Issue: | 2-3 |
| Pages: | 1-11 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Africa |
| Subjects: | informal sector labour market labour policy |
| External link: | https://asq.africa.ufl.edu/lindell_spring10/ |
| Abstract: | The last decades have witnessed deepening processes of informalization and casualization in Africa and beyond. Growing numbers of people rely on economic activities occurring beyond State regulation, something that is widely evident in urban areas. Multiple dynamics are converging to drive these trends that have resulted in new floods of entrants into the informal economy. Juxtaposed to these dynamics are the more long-standing informal activities through which popular groups have coped with the lack of formal work opportunities. Parallel to the widespread trends of informalization and casualization is a resurgence of attempts to bring segments of the informal economy under some form of State regulation. These developments confirm that the boundary between what is and is not to be regulated by the State is a shifting one. The drawing and re-drawing of this boundary is a contested process that involves social struggles and a variety of actors, encompassing both powerful interests and popular forces, including informal and casual workers themselves. The contributions in this special issue address the politics involved in and ensuing from processes of informalization/formalization in particular contexts. They discuss some of the contradictions, tensions, and conflicts that have emerged in the context of such processes. The papers deviate from the common victimizing views of informal actors by examining varied spaces and forms of popular agency in relation to those processes. This introduction highlights these issues on the basis of a selective discussion of the topics addressed by the papers. The articles in this issue were initially presented at a conference on 'Informalizing economies and new organizing strategies in Africa', held in 2007 under the auspices of the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |