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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Mutuality from above: urban crisis, the state and the work of 'Comissões de Moradores' in Luanda
Author:Tomás, AntónioISNI
Year:2014
Periodical:Anthropology Southern Africa (ISSN 2332-3264)
Volume:37
Pages:175-186
Language:English
Geographic term:Angola
Subjects:urban housing
public property
privatization
housing improvement
Abstract:This paper discusses the emergence of new regimes of mutuality in the context of a crisis in the built environment of Luanda, Angola. By 1991, Luanda's city centre had suffered years of neglect and talk of an urban crisis abounded. The Angolan government decided that the only way out of the crisis was through the sale of state property. However, privatization did not simply imply a transfer of ownership from the State to former long-term lessees willing to purchase their homes; the process also had a number of unintended consequences. The paper argues that the Angolan government's property privatization process ended up constituting mutuality from above, by forcing residents of apartment blocks into formal associations. It has not prevented buildings in downtown Luanda from further decay and has brought about new sites of property litigation. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]
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