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The Rise of Africa's Middle Class
Myths, Realities and Critical Engagements
The Rise of Africa's Middle Class
Myths, Realities and Critical Engagements
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Description
Across Africa, a burgeoning middle class has become the poster child for the 'Africa rising' narrative. Ambitious, aspirational and increasingly affluent, this group is said to embody the values and hopes of the new Africa, with international bodies ranging from the United Nations Development Programme to the World Bank regarding them as important agents of both economic development and democratic change. This narrative, however, obscures the complex and often ambiguous role that this group actually plays in African societies.
Bringing together economists, political scientists, anthropologists and development experts, and spanning a variety of case studies from across the continent, this collection provides a much-needed corrective to the received wisdom within development circles, and provides a fresh perspective on social transformations in contemporary Africa.
Table of Contents
1. African Middle Classes: Lessons from Transnational Studies and a Research Agenda - Carola Lentz
2. Human Development and the Construction of Middle Classes in the Global South - Tim Stoffel
3. Africa's Middle Class, Africa's Entrepreneurs and the 'Missing Middle' - Oluyele Akinkugbe and Karl Wohlmuth
4. Deconstructing the Myth of the African Middle Class - Sirkku K. Hellsten
5. Kenya – An Unconscious Middle Class? Between Regional-Ethnic Political Mobilisation and Middle Class Lifestyles - Dieter Neubert
6. Middle Class Activism in Nigeria: From Nationalist Struggle to Social Media Campaign - Nkwachukwu Orji
7. Emerging Middle Class Political Subjectivities in Post-war Angola - Jon Schubert
8. The Middle Class of Mozambique and the Politics of the Blank Slate - Jason Sumich
9. South Africa's Black Middle Class Professionals - Amuzweni L. Ngoma
10. The Middle Class of Dar es Salaam and Kiswahili Video-Films - Vicensia Shule
Conclusion: How Much Class Have the African Middle Classes? - Henning Melber
Product details
Published | 15 Dec 2016 |
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Format | Ebook (PDF) |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 231 |
ISBN | 9781783607150 |
Imprint | Zed Books |
Series | Africa Now |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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This is a much-needed addition to the literature on the political mobilization of the middle class … the empirically rich insights into diverse middle-class phenomena highlight the conceptual challenge of the middle-class label.
Africa Today
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Polemic, bold, engaging and an excellent read … a worthwhile critical compendium of information not only on Africa's middle class but on sustainable social, cultural, economic, and political change in Africa.'
African Studies Quarterly
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Its combination of broader regional approaches and case studies from six countries provides an unprecedented overview of the relationships between contemporary economic, political and social circumstances and local constructions of class. … a valuable read.'
Journal of Modern African Studies
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A worthy addition to the landmark Africa Now series of books produced by Uppsala's Nordic Africa Institute and Zed Books.
Canadian Journal of African Studies
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This readable set of essays offers nuance throughout … the overarching theme that unites this collection is an original analysis of how to define, measure and understand the changing cultural, political and economic identity of those Africans in between the elites and the destitute.
Journal of Southern African Studies
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Sorting fact from fiction, Melber brings together experts and examines a variety of case studies. The end result is a much more nuanced analysis of Africa's middle class and a fresh look at societal transformations in contemporary Africa.
New African

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