Introduction: Africa’s Middle Classes in Critical Perspective

Scharrer, Tabea; O'Kane, David; Kroeker, Lena

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62148-7_1

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We construct a binary cohort‐specific measure using educational attainment data from women aged 20–49 in each country, with a cut point at 10 percent to capture the elite as compared to the bottom 90 percent of the educational distribution. Given that the absolute population size of a “middle class” or “elite” population remains small in African settings—in some cases fewer than 1 percent (Scharrer, O'Kane, and Kroeker 2018), we prioritize differentiating the most economically advantaged women from others. The 10 percent cut point recognizes the limited elite segment of women who have experienced significant socioeconomic gains while ensuring adequate sample sizes for robust estimates across category.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Economic Inequality and Divergence in Family Formation in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Stoebenau¹,

Madhavan²,

Smith‐Greenaway³

et al. 2021

Population & Development Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Economic inequality has been rising in many sub‐Saharan African countries alongside rapid changes to union and family formation. In high‐income countries marked by rising inequality, union and family formation practices have diverged across socioeconomic statuses, with intergenerational social and health consequences for the disadvantaged. In this study, we address whether there is also evidence of demographic divergence in low‐income settings. Specifically, we model the age at first marriage and first birth by socioeconomic status groups for women born between 1960 and 1989 using Demographic and Health Survey data from 12 sub‐Saharan African countries where economic inequality levels are relatively high or rising. We argue that economic and sociocultural factors may both serve to increasingly delay marriage and childbearing for the elite as compared to others in the context of rising inequality. We find emerging social stratification in marriage and childbearing, and demonstrate that this demographic divergence is driven by the elites who are increasingly marrying and having children at later ages, with near stagnation in the age at first marriage and birth among the remaining majority. We urge further research at the intersection of socioeconomic and demographic inequality to inform necessary policy levers and curtail negative social and health consequences.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11The “middle‐class” in Africa is the subject of increasing scrutiny with respect to both etic and emic understandings of its boundaries and determinants of membership in contexts across sub‐Saharan Africa (Scharrer, O'Kane, and Kroeker 2018). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Inequality and Divergence in Family Formation in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Stoebenau¹,

Madhavan²,

Smith‐Greenaway³

et al. 2021

Population & Development Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One result of this conversation concerns the nature of precarity. Once unmoored from the urbane preoccupations and anxieties of the middle classes of the Global North (Scharrer et al 2018), it becomes apparent that at the heart of global experiences of urban precarity one does not necessarily find a feeling of loss but rather of aspiration toward a future that is yet to come but remains just beyond one’s grasp. Longing for stability may indeed be one way of fulfilling such aspirations, as is the strategy of “detachment” (Simone 2018b), designed to sever the ties between inherited aspirations and personal worth.…”

Section: Opening Up a Conversationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: Urban Precarity

Campbell

Laheij

2021

City & Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cities have long been associated with precarity. This link seems to have intensified under contemporary global regimes of capitalism, with both popular and academic discourses noting the risks that come with building and inhabiting urban environments. The introduction to this special issue reflects on the various ways in which anthropology has engaged with the relationship between “urbanity” and “precarity.” It argues that current work on precarity either favors the experiences of the Global North or sidelines the urban dimension. Studies that overcome these obstacles, moreover, are largely crystalizing around discussions of infrastructure and securitization. We offer the notion of “urban precarity” as a call for ethnography that cross‐germinates developments in urban studies with those made in our understanding of precarity. By foregrounding the urban, the ethnography collated here suggests that in the cities of late capitalism, precarity emerges as a multifaceted condition, encapsulating not only legal and economic deprivation but also moral, spiritual, political, and health‐related uncertainties. As the protagonists of our ethnography struggle to deal with the many threats bearing down upon them, precarity is also revealed as a condition conducive to world‐building and social transformation, although such forms of creative agency are highly experimental and liable to backfire.

show abstract

“…To the extent that an African middle class is indeed emerging, it embraces forms of relatedness inspired by the globalizing ideal of romantic love and companionate partnerships, a process that informs how women and men conceive, experience and practice love, friendship or care, which in turn weighs in on how they think and experience family relationships (Scharrer et al 2018). Ultimately, all these relationships involve one form or another of future feeling and future thinking -think, for instance, of the rising demand for IVF treatments; of the expectations inherent in child-raising; or of the plans that friends make to start a business venture.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Futuring Africa: An Introduction

Van Wolputte,

Greiner,

Bollig

2022

African Futures

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated. Whichever angle you take, be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.Wainaina 2005 ∵ Africa is doomed. Africa is rising. Africa is bleeding, Africa is thriving. Africa holds the key to the future. The world's future. No future.There is indeed no future for Africa. Or better, there is no single future. There are many roads to take, many paths to follow, each of which comes with its own crossroads and junctions, uncertainties, expectations, anxieties, imaginings, anticipations and speculations, determined and undetermined by pasts and presents, by possibilities and constraints, by past futures and by future pasts. One continuing concern, especially in the light of growing inequalities, is whose future is one talking about? Africans, like all peoples of the world, are "future-makers" (Appadurai 2013: 285) whether as inventors, engineers, scientists, planners, writers, artists, activists, or as children, mothers and fathers -albeit, paraphrasing Marx, not always in circumstances of their own choosing (Mavhunga 2017;Mbembe 2017;Sarr 2016). It is at these interstices and intersections that Africa is futuring -planning, imagining, making, building, expecting, avoiding, policing, preventing, writing, speculating, anticipating whatever is becoming.Ideas, philosophies, anticipations, aspirations and expectations of the future will, obviously, also have their impact on how the past is experienced and remembered. Grand narratives such as colonialism were (and are) pretty much oriented towards the future (yet, a future made 'white ' -read 'modern' , 'efficient' and 'rational'), as were the various forms of resistance, such as the dream of pan-Africanism or the ongoing process of decolonization. More recently, governments throughout the continent have drafted their

show abstract

Introduction: Africa’s Middle Classes in Critical Perspective

Cited by 10 publications

References 26 publications

Economic Inequality and Divergence in Family Formation in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Economic Inequality and Divergence in Family Formation in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Introduction: Urban Precarity

Futuring Africa: An Introduction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About