R: Re: R: Re: [Slum Studies Research Group] Inclusive growth: merely desir... (guardian.co.uk)

[cec...@libero.it]

surely, slums are a political issue because of their "illegal" nature ... although we should discuss at this point, on what is "legal" and what is not ... in this regard: the Palestinian refugee camps are "legal" as the Israeli policy of apartheid is "legal" ... Mine was not a provocation, but only an invitation to not only look at the issue from the point of view (necessary!!) provision of services etc ... In short, I consider that slums as a "technical" matter obscures the political dimension. too often the "technical" solution, disguised by "political" rethoric, has resulted in "deportation" ... what interests me is the capacity to make proposals that can come from the slums and their inhabitants, their ability to self-organize, to bring their different point of view and way of life.

ciao

cecilia

Moussa, in which country are you?

----Messaggio originale----
Da: pn...@yahoo.com
Data: 11/03/2011 4.07
A: <slum-s...@googlegroups.com>
Ogg: Re: R: Re: [Slum Studies Research Group] Inclusive growth: merely desir... (guardian.co.uk)

Indeed Slums have different reading grids and me connecting them to what is happening in Arabia might be a little bit of a stretch. However, depending of course on which part of Arabia we are talking about, Slums can be Bedouin tents on the shadows of the oil rich saoudi Arabian Modern tall buildings, tents that are usually seen as not attractive--while being the bedrock of arabian culture--as the prince  urban planner wants to bulldozer  them and replace them with subsidized concrete housing. Of course I am not a social scientist, therefore I do not have figures to add to make my point. However, my take here is that Slums have different meaning in different spaces and cultures in the age of urbanization. Most Slums present the face of what those who have entered modernity with full force seem to abhor given that  they often represent the chaotic and the transitional while the urban spaces are marked by order and enforced. In the conusmer aspect of things, consumerism is less of a choice than of a necessity in the Slums, just like the slums born out of necessity if consider the often "illegal" and precarious nature of it. I am not talking of the new wave of "ConsommAction" philosophy springing from the new Europe. The political nature of Slums dwells on the amorphous aspect of its architecture, the instaneous, the lack of planning, as contingency makes them happen. It is that framework --or lack ther off-- that makes them political as they pose a threat to policymakers and political authorities, since they are not framed, zoned and policed because of their often informal and underground identity.

More later...

Moussa 

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From: "cec...@libero.it" <cec...@libero.it>
To: slum-s...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, March 10, 2011 9:26:52 PM
Subject: R: Re: [Slum Studies Research Group] Inclusive growth: merely desir... (guardian.co.uk)

I want to participate in this discussion with something that may look like a provocation (but it is not!). sure, I think that what is happening in North Africa tells us something, but I do not think that is necessarily linked to the issue of slums (not only). I'm interested in, but look at the slums from a different perspective than that of injustice. For example, I'm interested in what we can learn from slums. recycling of materials, for example, seems interesting because it may have political significance in the broadest sense: it may indicate, for example, a different way of consuming, a different relationship with the goods ...

ciao

cecilia

p.s.: Do you know we have some gipsy slums in rome and this is leading political discourse (more and more)...

----Messaggio originale----
Da: LIND...@wpunj.edu
Data: 10/03/2011 20.11
A: <slum-s...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: <slum-s...@googlegroups.com>
Ogg: Re: [Slum Studies Research Group] Inclusive growth: merely desir... (guardian.co.uk)

Thank you for your response, Moussa.  My efforts to get the proverbial 'ball' rolling on the Slum Studies group is beginning to pay-off.  Please feel free to post and invite new members to participate in our discussion. 

Delario Lindsey, Ph.D.

Department of Africana-World Studies

Department of Liberal Studies

William Paterson University - New Jersey

On Mar 10, 2011, at 1:13 PM, "Moussa sow" <pn...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Thanks Delario for the article. This is an interesting awakening, --if those concerned are awake yet anyway-- So long as the rich think that they can enjoy a stared evening  on a yacht, turning their sight away from the slums made out of their postconsumed goods, frustration is likely to fester and upheavals with uncertain consequences as in Libya--and elsewhere--are likely to continue. Ethical concerns being muffled, I will say that necessity seems to impose itself in a violent way for it to prevail as North Africa has shown us.

my to two cents.

Moussa

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From: "Lindsey, Delario" <LIND...@wpunj.edu>
To: Slum Group <slum-s...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thu, March 10, 2011 5:40:45 PM
Subject: [Slum Studies Research Group] Inclusive growth: merely desir... (guardian.co.uk)

Inclusive growth: merely desirable or essential?
www.guardian.co.uk​/global-development​/poverty...

Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPad app. Available for free in the App Store.

Delario Lindsey, Ph.D.

Department of Africana-World Studies

Department of Liberal Studies

William Paterson University - New Jersey

[Moussa sow]

Hi Cecilia,

I live presenty in the US and i by no means feel provoked, except intellectually. And since I am a literary person and work on documentary ecocinema, I am not in a position to provide a solution to the Slums. However, I have studied the many effects of globalization --in its exclusion meaning--with regards to the amount of waste produced. This waste has a profound impact on Slum dwellers who oftentimes find in the waste exposure to death because of toxic material, but also source of income that fuels visual culture as well as Slum construction material. Indeed Slums expose along a growing population, mainly a failure of public policy and economic systems that cannot accomadate displaced people by putting them in  decent conditions of living. How many years have we witness the fast growth of NGO and UN branches such as Habitat for Humanity, and yet the issues they are supposed to tackle seem insurmountable at a speed way faster than their responses to these urban issues. One starts to wonder who is really benefiting from these organizations with big overheads aimed at securing their own standards of living, leaving little to nothing  trickle to their supposed  constituencies. what do the rest of the group think?

Best,

Moussa

---

From: "cec...@libero.it" <cec...@libero.it>
To: slum-s...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Fri, March 11, 2011 4:31:26 PM
Subject: R: Re: R: Re: [Slum Studies Research Group] Inclusive growth: merely desir... (guardian.co.uk)

surely, slums are a political issue because of their "illegal" nature ... although we should discuss at this point, on what is "legal" and what is not ... in this regard: the Palestinian refugee camps are "legal" as the Israeli policy of apartheid is "legal" ... Mine was not a provocation, but only an invitation to not only look at the issue from the point of view (necessary!!) provision of services etc ... In short, I consider that slums as a "technical" matter obscures the political dimension. too often the "technical" solution, disguised by "political" rethoric, has resulted in "deportation" ... what interests me is the capacity to make proposals that can come from the slums and their inhabitants, their ability to self-organize, to bring their different point of view and way of life.

ciao

cecilia

Moussa, in which country are you?

----Messaggio originale----
Da: pn...@yahoo.com
Data: 11/03/2011 4.07
A: <slum-s...@googlegroups.com>
Ogg: Re: R: Re: [Slum Studies Research Group] Inclusive growth: merely desir... (guardian.co.uk)

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