Debates around diverse economies have flourished in geography in recent years, challenging the co... more Debates around diverse economies have flourished in geography in recent years, challenging the consistent and limiting hegemonic framing of the economy as singularly capitalist and global, through making visible the vast array of economic practices that are taking place alongside and beyond capitalist ones at multiple sites and scales. Bringing together debates around community economies, (relational) approaches to scales and place, and Actor Network Theory, in this article we focus on the narrative of Mama Bokolo, a healer/ gardener/diverse economic actor in Cape Town. Grounded on her lived experience, we suggest that allegedly local, marginalised actors like Mama are actively contributing to enact liberatory diverse economic arrangements beyond-the-local, by articulating networks across places and scales and fostering relations with a range of diverse, human, natural and supernatural actors. In doing so, we elucidate why precisely these more-than-local and more-than-human elements can be instrumental to enable transformative economic spaces of hope. Abstract-isiXhosa: Kwiminyaka edlulileyo, kukhe kwakho iingxoxo-mpikiswano ngemiba ephathiselene ngezibhalo ezithetha ngoqoqosho olubanzi. Ezi ngxoxo zithande ukuphikisa ubungxowa-nkulu nokucinga ngoqoqosho ngendlela exhasa ubungxowa-nkulu belizwe jikelele. Ezi ngxoxo zibonisa ezinye iindlela zoqoqosho ezenzeka ecaleni nangaphandle kobungxowa-nkulu kwiindawo ngeendawo. Kweli nqaku sibonisana ngeengxoxo ezimalunga noqoqosho eluntwini. Sibonisa nonxulumano phakathi kwabantu noqoqosho, namanqanaba oqoqosho kwiindawo ngeendawo. I-Actor Network Theory isincedisa ukuqonda ibali likaMama uBokolo oligqirha, ongunogada, odlala indima kuqoqosho olubanzi nongumntu odala inguqu ehlala eKapa. Ekujongeni indlela aphila ngayo, sixoxa okokuba bonke abantu abanezimbo zokuphila ngokwahlukileyo njengoMama Bokolo banendima abayidlalayo ekudaleni iindlela zoqoqosho ezahlukileyo nangona besebenza ezingingqini zabo. Aba badlali basibonisa uqhagamshelwano kwindawo ezahlukileyo nakumanqanaba ahlukileyo. Bakwabonisa unxulumano phakathi kwabantu, indalo esiyibonayo kwakunye neminye imimoya efana nezinyanya. UMama uBokolo uye asibonise okokuba uqhamshelwano wakhe nabantu bomhlaba nabaphantsi ubalulekile ekudaleni ithemba nenguqu kwindawo zoqoqosho.
This thesis explores and celebrates diverse understandings and experiences of the economythrough ... more This thesis explores and celebrates diverse understandings and experiences of the economythrough the narratives of four people working in Cape Town, South Africa. The diversity and multiplicity of the economy has been made invisible by a capitalocentric economic discourse which casts alternative ways of being as uncredible and weak. Thus, from a postdevelopment/ community economy perspective, I seek to foster a space in which nonconventional economic and political practices are seen as relevant and valid sites for action, where hope for a better future can be enabled.
Living in the segregated city of Cape Town, I began to question the polemic framing of the country‟s “two economies”, a framing which disregards the actions of ordinary people who are improving the well-being of their communities directly, in favour of neoliberal pro-growth strategies. Therefore, I interrogate the binaries used to describe the economy andscale of action so as reimagine other possible trajectories for transformation. In so doing, I trace some of the relational connections that the participants articulated and employed on a daily basis so as to foster a sense of place beyond dualistic notions of scale and politics. I also contend that if we are to appreciate the community economy as a significant and persistent site of struggle, there is a need to understand politics as happening beyond the horizon of direct mobilisation. Through these reframings I work to reinsert the experiences and perspectives of spatially and economically marginalised people and places into implications in broader issues.
I approach this research from a post-structural, feminist stance, not only to deconstruct the supposed dominance of the capitalist economy, but also to contribute to a project of growing a diverse economic discourse and enabling people to occupy this terrain and reclaim their agency. Hence, using ethnographic and visual collaborative methodologies I aim to promote and value the agency and autonomy of ordinary people who are performing, dreaming, enacting, connecting and enabling a broad horizon of opportunities in hybrid, multi-scalar ways. Therefore, alongside its conceptual contribution of enabling other economic possibilities, I hope that this thesis adds to a conversation about the need for methodologies to be realised as part of a broader movement towards transformation and change.
Debates around diverse economies have flourished in geography in recent years, challenging the co... more Debates around diverse economies have flourished in geography in recent years, challenging the consistent and limiting hegemonic framing of the economy as singularly capitalist and global, through making visible the vast array of economic practices that are taking place alongside and beyond capitalist ones at multiple sites and scales. Bringing together debates around community economies, (relational) approaches to scales and place, and Actor Network Theory, in this article we focus on the narrative of Mama Bokolo, a healer/ gardener/diverse economic actor in Cape Town. Grounded on her lived experience, we suggest that allegedly local, marginalised actors like Mama are actively contributing to enact liberatory diverse economic arrangements beyond-the-local, by articulating networks across places and scales and fostering relations with a range of diverse, human, natural and supernatural actors. In doing so, we elucidate why precisely these more-than-local and more-than-human elements can be instrumental to enable transformative economic spaces of hope. Abstract-isiXhosa: Kwiminyaka edlulileyo, kukhe kwakho iingxoxo-mpikiswano ngemiba ephathiselene ngezibhalo ezithetha ngoqoqosho olubanzi. Ezi ngxoxo zithande ukuphikisa ubungxowa-nkulu nokucinga ngoqoqosho ngendlela exhasa ubungxowa-nkulu belizwe jikelele. Ezi ngxoxo zibonisa ezinye iindlela zoqoqosho ezenzeka ecaleni nangaphandle kobungxowa-nkulu kwiindawo ngeendawo. Kweli nqaku sibonisana ngeengxoxo ezimalunga noqoqosho eluntwini. Sibonisa nonxulumano phakathi kwabantu noqoqosho, namanqanaba oqoqosho kwiindawo ngeendawo. I-Actor Network Theory isincedisa ukuqonda ibali likaMama uBokolo oligqirha, ongunogada, odlala indima kuqoqosho olubanzi nongumntu odala inguqu ehlala eKapa. Ekujongeni indlela aphila ngayo, sixoxa okokuba bonke abantu abanezimbo zokuphila ngokwahlukileyo njengoMama Bokolo banendima abayidlalayo ekudaleni iindlela zoqoqosho ezahlukileyo nangona besebenza ezingingqini zabo. Aba badlali basibonisa uqhagamshelwano kwindawo ezahlukileyo nakumanqanaba ahlukileyo. Bakwabonisa unxulumano phakathi kwabantu, indalo esiyibonayo kwakunye neminye imimoya efana nezinyanya. UMama uBokolo uye asibonise okokuba uqhamshelwano wakhe nabantu bomhlaba nabaphantsi ubalulekile ekudaleni ithemba nenguqu kwindawo zoqoqosho.
This thesis explores and celebrates diverse understandings and experiences of the economythrough ... more This thesis explores and celebrates diverse understandings and experiences of the economythrough the narratives of four people working in Cape Town, South Africa. The diversity and multiplicity of the economy has been made invisible by a capitalocentric economic discourse which casts alternative ways of being as uncredible and weak. Thus, from a postdevelopment/ community economy perspective, I seek to foster a space in which nonconventional economic and political practices are seen as relevant and valid sites for action, where hope for a better future can be enabled.
Living in the segregated city of Cape Town, I began to question the polemic framing of the country‟s “two economies”, a framing which disregards the actions of ordinary people who are improving the well-being of their communities directly, in favour of neoliberal pro-growth strategies. Therefore, I interrogate the binaries used to describe the economy andscale of action so as reimagine other possible trajectories for transformation. In so doing, I trace some of the relational connections that the participants articulated and employed on a daily basis so as to foster a sense of place beyond dualistic notions of scale and politics. I also contend that if we are to appreciate the community economy as a significant and persistent site of struggle, there is a need to understand politics as happening beyond the horizon of direct mobilisation. Through these reframings I work to reinsert the experiences and perspectives of spatially and economically marginalised people and places into implications in broader issues.
I approach this research from a post-structural, feminist stance, not only to deconstruct the supposed dominance of the capitalist economy, but also to contribute to a project of growing a diverse economic discourse and enabling people to occupy this terrain and reclaim their agency. Hence, using ethnographic and visual collaborative methodologies I aim to promote and value the agency and autonomy of ordinary people who are performing, dreaming, enacting, connecting and enabling a broad horizon of opportunities in hybrid, multi-scalar ways. Therefore, alongside its conceptual contribution of enabling other economic possibilities, I hope that this thesis adds to a conversation about the need for methodologies to be realised as part of a broader movement towards transformation and change.
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Papers by Emma Hosking
Thesis Chapters by Emma Hosking
Living in the segregated city of Cape Town, I began to question the polemic framing of the country‟s “two economies”, a framing which disregards the actions of ordinary people who are improving the well-being of their communities directly, in favour of neoliberal pro-growth strategies. Therefore, I interrogate the binaries used to describe the economy andscale of action so as reimagine other possible trajectories for transformation. In so doing, I trace some of the relational connections that the participants articulated and employed on a daily basis so as to foster a sense of place beyond dualistic notions of scale and politics. I also contend that if we are to appreciate the community economy as a significant and persistent site of struggle, there is a need to understand politics as happening beyond the horizon of direct mobilisation. Through these reframings I work to reinsert the experiences and
perspectives of spatially and economically marginalised people and places into implications in broader issues.
I approach this research from a post-structural, feminist stance, not only to deconstruct the supposed dominance of the capitalist economy, but also to contribute to a project of growing a diverse economic discourse and enabling people to occupy this terrain and reclaim their agency. Hence, using ethnographic and visual collaborative methodologies I aim to promote and value the agency and autonomy of ordinary people who are performing, dreaming, enacting, connecting and enabling a broad horizon of opportunities in hybrid, multi-scalar ways. Therefore, alongside its conceptual contribution of enabling other economic possibilities, I hope that this thesis adds to a conversation about the need for methodologies to be realised as part of a broader movement towards transformation and change.
Living in the segregated city of Cape Town, I began to question the polemic framing of the country‟s “two economies”, a framing which disregards the actions of ordinary people who are improving the well-being of their communities directly, in favour of neoliberal pro-growth strategies. Therefore, I interrogate the binaries used to describe the economy andscale of action so as reimagine other possible trajectories for transformation. In so doing, I trace some of the relational connections that the participants articulated and employed on a daily basis so as to foster a sense of place beyond dualistic notions of scale and politics. I also contend that if we are to appreciate the community economy as a significant and persistent site of struggle, there is a need to understand politics as happening beyond the horizon of direct mobilisation. Through these reframings I work to reinsert the experiences and
perspectives of spatially and economically marginalised people and places into implications in broader issues.
I approach this research from a post-structural, feminist stance, not only to deconstruct the supposed dominance of the capitalist economy, but also to contribute to a project of growing a diverse economic discourse and enabling people to occupy this terrain and reclaim their agency. Hence, using ethnographic and visual collaborative methodologies I aim to promote and value the agency and autonomy of ordinary people who are performing, dreaming, enacting, connecting and enabling a broad horizon of opportunities in hybrid, multi-scalar ways. Therefore, alongside its conceptual contribution of enabling other economic possibilities, I hope that this thesis adds to a conversation about the need for methodologies to be realised as part of a broader movement towards transformation and change.