Missing states? Somali trade networks and the Eastleigh transformation

Abstract

Since the collapse of the Somali state, Nairobi's Eastleigh estate has played host to thousands of Somali refugees and developed from a quiet residential suburb to a major East African commercial hub. This article examines this transformation, arguing that it builds on pre-existing cross border trade networks, as well as diaspora and Kenyan sources of capital, and regional and global processes that intensified in the early 1990s. The Eastleigh story provides a lens through which we trace economic changes associated with Somalia's extended statelessness, in particular how connective fabric has been generated and sustained in this stateless period. However, the Eastleigh story is not just one of Somali statelessness, but also of interaction with other states. In particular, this article focuses on the ambiguous relationship of Eastleigh to the Kenyan state, suggesting that Somali business in Eastleigh, although born of a collapsed state and informality, is integrated in various ways into the formal state-regulated sector. Furthermore, Eastleigh businesspeople hope for more Kenyan state involvement in the estate to provide better security and infrastructure, while Somali businesspeople in general long for a viable Somali state that will allow them to invest their capital at home.

Courts, Clans and Companies: Mobile Money and Dispute Resolution in Somaliland

“…As Carrier and Lochery (2013) argue in reference to Somalis in Kenya: '[They] speak so much of how their businesses rely on "trust" that the concept appears not so much descriptive as prescriptive, perhaps allowing other aspects of these relationships, especially power asymmetries, to be hidden' (339). Thus while the core of the trust users are willing to place in Zaad likely comes from the long legacy of trust as the underlying basis of the remittance industry (Thompson 2011;Ballard 2004;Cockayne 2012), it is not necessarily static nor democratic.…”

Spatial Contestation, Victimisation and Resistance during Xenophobic Violence: The Experiences of Somali Migrants in Post‐Apartheid South Africa

“…These strategies include ethnic clustering, competitive pricing, discounts, cheap labour, clan-based networks, shareholding, joint ownership, long operational hours, low rentals and a sense of solidarity. Many of these strategies also featured in studies conducted in other countries such as Jones, Ram and Theodorakopoulos (2010) on Somalis in Leicester, UK, and Carrier and Lochery (2013) in Eastleigh, Kenya. In the South African context, these strategies facilitate the setting of businesses, enhance profitability and sustainability.…”

“…Many of these strategies also featured in studies conducted in other countries such as Jones, Ram and Theodorakopoulos () on Somalis in Leicester, UK, and Carrier and Lochery () in Eastleigh, Kenya. In the South African context, these strategies facilitate the setting of businesses, enhance profitability and sustainability.…”

Subaltern Architectures: Can Drawing “Tell” a Different Story?

“…It therefore highlights the particular location of these markets in Cape Town, while also recognizing the existence of similar kinds of places in other parts of the world. 34 The use of ethnographic research methods is, however, not new to architecture. Noeleen Murray has argued that architects in post-Apartheid South Africa have continued working like colonial anthropologists.…”