The coloniality of space: landscape, aesthetics and the middle classes in Dar es Salaam

Mercer, Claire ORCID: 0000-0003-0991-3693 (2024) The coloniality of space: landscape, aesthetics and the middle classes in Dar es Salaam. Antipode. ISSN 0066-4812 (In Press)

Text (The coloniality of space Landscape aesthetics and the middle classes in Dar es Salaam) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 January 2100. Download (611kB) | Request a copy

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Abstract

In Dar es Salaam an aesthetic politics of landscape shaped by the coloniality of space is central to middle class boundary work that drives the city’s middle classes to congregate in the city’s northern suburbs. The colonial city was divided into three racially marked zones that became known as uzunguni, uhindini and uswahilini (the place of the European, Indian and African respectively). The coloniality of space remains as the spatial residue of this colonial enframing. It endures in an aesthetic politics of landscape in which ideas about what, and who, makes good urban space in terms of architecture, topography and planning, and who deserves to live where. The paper examines how middle class suburban residents’ mobilisation of the coloniality of space naturalises existing social and spatial hierarchies in the city. Ikisiri Katika jiji la Dar es Salaam usimamizi wa mvuto wa mandhari ya jiji umeathiriwa na upangaji wa mji wa tangu enzi za ukoloni ambapo watu wa tabaka la kati ndiyo wamekuwa kiini cha uhalisia wa mpangilio huo ambapo watu wa tabaka la kati wamejazana katika vitongoji vya kaskazini mwa jiji. Enzi za ukoloni jiji hilo liligawanywa katika kanda tatu zilizotambulishwa kwa rangi za wakazi wake ambazo zilijulikana kama uzunguni, uhindini na uswahilini (makazi ya watu wa asili ya Ulaya - yaani wazungu, wahindi na waafrika, mtawalia). Bado kuna mabaki ya upangiliaji wa maeneo ya makazi kwa kufuata uchoraji uliofanywa kipindi cha ukoloni. Mpangilio uliopo sasa bado unaakisi sera ya kupanga mandhari unaohusiana na kilichopo, nani anahusika, kupangilia vizuri maeneo ya mijini kwa kujielekeza katika usanifu wa majengo, topografia na mipango, na nani anastahili kuishi wapi. Chapisho hili linaangazia namna wakaazi wa tabaka la kati wanavyoendeleza madaraja ya kijamii na kimaeneo kwa kufuata upangaji wa makazi ndani ya jiji unaoendeleza ule wa toka enzi za ukoloni.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author
Divisions:	Geography & Environment
Subjects:	J Political Science H Social Sciences G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
Date Deposited:	22 May 2024 10:48
Last Modified:	04 Jun 2024 23:13
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123574

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