ABSTRACT
Displacement to cities has made urban spaces beyond the ‘wealthy west’ theatres for humanitarian action and scholarship. Drawing on research from southern and eastern Africa, this chapter argues that while displaced people often remain at the margins of global economies and humanitarian interventions, they often outperform ‘economic migrants’ in terms of securing employment, housing and even physical security. These findings give cause to question presumptions about vulnerability assistance modalities. It ends by calling for a rescaling and politicization of humanitarianism action and knowledge generation.
