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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Information and the mediation of power in Delft, Cape Town
Author:Millstein, Marianne
Year:2014
Periodical:Nordic Journal of African Studies (ISSN 1459-9465)
Volume:23
Issue:2
Pages:100-119
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:townships
resettlement
local politics
information
External link:https://njas.fi/njas/article/view/151/141
Abstract:In this paper the author explores the role of information in disputes over temporary relocations and housing allocation in the township of Delft, Cape Town, South Africa. Delft is a community with several temporary relocation areas (TRAs), and where massive housing construction takes place. Demands for information and grievances over limited transparency around the future of TRAs and the allocation of housing have become key issues in local politics. Using W. Mazzarella's work on mediation as an entry point, the author explores how information works as a mediator of power in everyday politics. Information can be a resource for the exercise of power, while also being something that is mediated in and through local political identities, social relations, and experiences. Depoliticized notions of information as a tool for frictionless development freed from interest-based politics can be perceived as a mode of regulation through which State actors aim to govern communities and regulate citizenship. But in the everyday politics of citizenship, claim-making based on the right to information also underlie political agency and influence multiple political practices in response to such disciplinary powers. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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