(Re)searching the Middle Class in Subsaharan Africa: A mulitdisciplinary Kick-off Workshop


External Link:
http://dayan.org/node/11135
Thematic Focus:
Knowledge Production and Transfer, Poverty Reduction
Involved Countries:
Switzerland, Kenya
Is Affiliated to:
Received Funding By:

Objectives

1: stimulate a local debate and knowledge exchange by bringing together a varied set of voices to the exploration of Kenya‘s middle class.

2: collecting data on the Kenyan middle-class, which includes personal stories, pictures, video-documentary, notes, etc. This set of information is geo-tagged to translate it into the urban space of Nairobi and allow to analyse the link of middle-class identity and spatial practices.

3: publishing a book that combines ethnographic research, academic articles (contributed by the applicants) and photo-stories. This collection of diverse perspectives aims at enriching the portrayals of African middle-classes beyond economic labelling.

4: establishing research networks between Switzerland and Kenyan institutions with the aim of preparing further research exchange and joint funding proposals. Consequentially, a second set of this seed workshop is envisioned for other priority countries (e.g. Uganda, Mozambique) to enrich the debate on African middleclass and enable cross-country comparison.