ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two disparate forms of urban associational life in Dakar and Johannesburg. By focusing on diffuse and largely “invisible” ways in which participation and collaboration are mobilized, it is possible to discern tensions and contested development trajectories of the urban arena. Johannesburg has long been Africa’s most developed city. Its status was acquired through an oppressive political system, which rigidly regulated access to urban space and services and imposed two distinct development trajectories: a city with all the Western amenities for whites, and impoverished peri-urban labor reserves for blacks. Much of the initial African migration corresponded to shifting policies pursued by the South African state. Political favors offered by African states, as well as their co-operation in circumventing sanctions and creating trade opportunities and havens for capital flight, were often rewarded with relaxed entry and stay requirements.
