The rapidly expanding Mozambican suburb of Inhapossa is very much the product of urban precarity. Indeed, most people only end up there after having exhausted other options. Striking, however, is how residents have, in recent years, discursively and materially constructed the suburb as an idyllic urban place in the making, so much so that Inhapossa has become one of the most coveted neighborhoods in the area. This article proposes an ethnographic reflection on urban precarity that draws on theories “from the South” and extends the notion of suburb to the shifting urban edge in Mozambique. It examines how local land struggles have created new opportunities for people from very different backgrounds, and whose lives became entangled in unexpected life-enhancing ways, to craft better futures for themselves and their families. Locating the transformative potential of urban precarity in the work of attuning one’s aspirations with one’s circumstances, it shows how the suburb—a space of aspirational compromise—can become a space of aspirational achievement.

中文翻译：

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城市不稳定与理想妥协：莫桑比克郊区的另一种感觉

快速扩张的莫桑比克郊区 Inhapossa 在很大程度上是城市不稳定的产物。事实上，大多数人只有在用尽其他选择后才最终到达那里。然而，引人注目的是近年来居民如何在话语上和物质上将郊区建设成一个正在建设中的田园诗般的城市地方，以至于 Inhapossa 已成为该地区最令人垂涎​​的街区之一。本文提出了对城市不稳定的人种学反思，它借鉴了“来自南方”的理论，并将郊区的概念扩展到莫桑比克不断变化的城市边缘。它考察了当地的土地斗争如何为来自截然不同背景的人们创造了新的机会，他们的生活以意想不到的改善生活的方式纠缠在一起，为自己和家人创造更美好的未来。