Kirby, B orcid.org/0000-0002-5466-2291 (2020) Flags and Shields: Muslim Socialities and Informal Livelihoods in Dar es Salaam. City and Society, 32 (3). pp. 556-578. ISSN 0893-0465
Abstract
In this article, I explore entanglements of Muslim sociality and informal livelihoods in Dar es Salaam. I propose that Muslim practices of affiliation deserve to be counted among the ordinary strategies that urban majorities employ to navigate the city amidst conditions of uncertainty. Building on Stephan Lanz and Martijn Oosterbaan’s (2016) work on “entrepreneurial religion,” I draw on fifteen months of ethnographic research in Kariakoo, a super‐dense market district at the center of the city. The first part of my analysis explores associational life in Dar es Salaam, combining a historical overview with ethnographic description. I explore how urban actors use affiliations to football teams and political parties to generate livelihood opportunities and to secure protection. The second part of my analysis uses emic notions of “flags” (bendera) and “shields” (ngao) to demonstrate that Muslim modes of association operate in strikingly similar ways to those pertaining to football and politics. Engaging with the conceptual vocabularies of AbdouMaliq Simone and Erving Goffman, as well as recent debates about “everyday” and “lived Islam,” this article foregrounds the interplay between religious forms and neoliberal processes of informalization as they are unfolding in African cities and beyond.[Tanzania; Dar es Salaam; Urban Religion; Muslim Urbanism; Informal Economy; Associational Life.]
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: | |
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Authors. City & Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Anthropological Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Tanzania; Dar es Salaam; Islam; Associational life; Urban religion; Religious urbanism; Muslim cultures; Informality; Urban infrastructure; Livelihoods; Ethnography; Football; Anthropology of Islam; Urban Studies; Religious Studies; African Studies; Erving Goffman |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > Theology and Religious Studies (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number British Academy PF2\180014 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Jul 2019 10:31 |
Last Modified: | 03 May 2021 13:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Anthropological Association |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/ciso.12353 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148742 |