ABSTRACT

This paper addresses precarity from a spatial perspective. It draws attention to how power becomes inscribed in urban space and shapes particular spatial arrangements connected with socio-economic vulnerabilities. This is empirically illustrated with a case study of Hargeisa, a city historically marked by the violence of the Somali civil war. Our analysis draws on interviews and participant photography, to foreground the ‘everyday’ experiences of residents living in the city’s marginal settlements. We point to the operations of power that produce political, economic and social deprivation but also agentic options for these residents who experience, cope with, struggle with and work against their marginalisation. Interconnecting precarity with geographies of violence, we elaborate the concept of ‘violent site-effects’ as a means to explain how power inscribed in spatial arrangements can cause harm to people. We emphasise violence as built into structures and as part of social orders that produce precarity. This, we argue, provides a basis on which to reflect on the dynamic ways in which inequality, insecurity and thus, vulnerabilities, are produced and reproduced in the processes of urban reconstruction.

摘要

本文从空间角度解决了car可危的问题。它引起人们对权力如何融入城市空间并塑造与社会经济脆弱性相关的特定空间安排的关注。从历史上以索马里内战的暴力事件为标志的哈尔格萨（Hargeisa）案例研究，可以从经验上说明这一点。我们的分析采用访谈和参与者摄影的方法，以介绍居住在城市边缘居民区的居民的“日常”经历。我们指出，权力的运作会导致政治，经济和社会匮乏，同时也为那些经历，应对，与之斗争并为他们的边缘化而作斗争的居民提供代理选择。将car不安与暴力地区联系起来，我们阐述了“暴力地盘效应”的概念，以解释空间安排中的权力如何对人造成伤害。我们强调暴力是建立在结构中的暴力，也是造成不稳定的社会秩序的一部分。我们认为，这为反思城市重建过程中产生和再现不平等，不安全以及由此而产生的脆弱性的动态方式提供了基础。