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‘We are taught to act’: hustling on the move in Kampala and Nairobi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2021

William Monteith  and
George Mirembe
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Abstract

This article explores the question of what happens when highly socialized and contingent forms of provisioning go wrong, and young men are forced to start again in unfamiliar urban contexts. The decline of George Mirembe's moneylending business in Kampala pre-empted his departure from the country and his arrival in Nairobi in search of new socio-economic opportunities. Lacking the documents and language skills necessary to enter formal sectors of the economy, George claimed asylum as a sexual refugee while working as a smuggler and a voice actor in the shadow film industry. His activities illustrate the advantages and limitations of the hustle as a framework for understanding the activities of transnational ‘others’ in African cities. I argue that translational practices of acting and storytelling have become a generalized tactic of survival among migrants in urban East Africa. Such practices are illustrative of a form of ‘uprooted hustle’ – or hustling on the move – that is oriented towards individual survival and exit rather than place-based transformation.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article analyse ce qui se passe lorsque l'encadrement sociale est incapable de pourvoir aux besoins de la population active et que les choses tournent mal pour les jeunes, obligés alors de se réinventer dans des contextes urbains qui leur sont étrangers. Son activité de prêt d'argent à Kampala ayant periclité, George Mirembe dut quitter son pays pour tenter sa chance à Nairobi. Ne possédant ni les documents nécessaires ni les qualifications linguistiques requis pour espérer intégrer les secteurs formels du monde du travail kenyan, George trouva une activité de passeur et un travail de doublure de voix dans l'industrie clandestine du cinéma, tout en faisant une demande d'asile en tant que réfugié sexuel. Ces activités illustrent les avantages et des limites de la solution dans la débrouille pour ces expatriés « autres » dans les villes africaines. Ces activités transnationales d'acteur et de conteur semblent être devenues une tactique généralisée de survie parmi les migrants dans les villes d'Afrique de l'est. De telles activités sont indicatives d'une forme de « débrouille déracinée » ou débrouille itinérante pour la survie, plutôt que recherche transformative sur place.

Type
Harnessing the ‘hustle’
Information
Africa , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 95 - 112
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Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2021

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