abstract:

This article attempts to bridge two literatures—the African history of urban life and the colonial history of urban planning—in order to better understand the politics of African mobility. In doing so, it situates colonial histories of urban planning and emerging African cultures of auto-mobility within a broader critique of colonial technology and infrastructure. This article argues that the realities of indirect rule—the autonomy of African urban residents and the weakness of colonial authority and infrastructure—raised new questions and problems for colonial officials who were tasked with turning ideology into policy and practice. In particular, mobility politics allow us to trace the way that “average” people negotiated colonial politics within and outside of the formal, elite structures of elected Town Councils, Legislative Assembles, or chieftaincy politics. Within the colonial bureaucracy and the Town Council, African elites negotiated their own prestige and status alongside the interests and demands of the city’s lower- and middle-class populations.

摘要：

本文试图衔接两种文献，即非洲城市生活史和城市规划的殖民史，以便更好地理解非洲流动的政治。这样，它将城市规划的殖民历史和新兴的非洲机动性文化置于更广泛的殖民技术和基础设施批评之中。本文认为，间接统治的现实-非洲城市居民的自治以及殖民当局和基础设施的薄弱-给负责将意识形态转变为政策和实践的殖民官员提出了新的问题。特别是，流动性政治让我们追踪的是“平均”的人协商内，立法组装当选镇议会的正式的，精英的结构之外殖民政治的方式，或酋长政治。在殖民地的官僚机构和市议会中，非洲精英们在城市中下层阶级人群的利益和诉求之间，协商了自己的声望和地位。