Week 10: Development as anti-urbanism

DVST 6901: The global politics of development (Semester 2, 2026)
October 12, 2026

Development projects—urban growth, for instance—would be much more successful if it weren’t for all the residents. If colonialism is racial governance, then often development policy is racialized poverty governance.

Main reading: Ng’weno (2025), intro. and chap. 8; Mamdani (1996), chap. 7

Other reading: Rooney (2021)

Agenda for class

On a piece of scrap paper, write two things.

One word for your topic
A number between 1 and 10 rating your progress, 1 being “I don’t have a topic” and 10 being “I already presented my paper” (And 8 being “I have a rough draft”)
Hand in your scrap paper to Ryan

The weeks to come

Week 10: Topic discussion—What questions do you have? What positions can one take?
Week 11: Progress update, Source showcase, Writing clinic
Week 12: Rough draft exchange and writing clinic
Week 13: Presentations

Urbanization, development, and democracy

The colonial city and managing change
The romance of the rural
The city: Capital and commons
Competing ideas of citizenship in urban policy, and competing ideas of flourishing

Progress on research papers

Small group topic discussion
Choose one topic to work on. Formulate a research question and brainstorm thesis statements

What is a city

Why do we have cities?

Urbanization, development, and democracy

The colonial city and managing change
- Labor recruitment and pass systems
The romance of the rural
- The village as Gemeinschaft
- The village as alternative to colonial models
The city: Capital and commons
- Cities are sites for accumulation
- Cities destroy in order to create
- Cities need people, people need each other, and need to be in a community, that is, shared resources
Competing ideas of citizenship in urban policy, and competing ideas of flourishing

Do Nubians have a right to collective self-determination?

Why did Nubians of Kibera claim they lived on ancestral land?
Should a claim to be a “people” (a “people of Nairobi”) be valid?
Who else deserves to be a “people”?

Progress on research papers

Scrap paper survey results

Part 1 (15–20 minutes)

Get up, walk around, and introduce yourself to people you have not met yet
Form groups of 5–6 people. Ryan will allocate people to groups to ensure a good mix
Choose one topic to work on. Formulate a research question and brainstorm thesis statements
Take turns briefly presenting your topic and what you know about it so far. Ask each other questions about each topic to explore it.

Part 2 (30 minutes)

Choose one topic to workshop
Formulate a research question about it to present to class
Brainstorm possible answers as thesis statements

Notes for class

Keywords

anti-urbanism, the right to the city, slums, squatter settlements, self-help housing

Learning outcomes

Be able to identify examples of anti-urbanism
Be able to assess urban social policy and development strategy in general in terms of anti-urbanism, and to formulate an opinion on this critical perspective

References

Mamdani, Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Ng’weno, Bettina. 2025. No Place Like Home in the New City: Anti-Urbanism and Life in Nairobi. Oakland: University of California Press.

Rooney, Michelle Nayahamui. 2021. ““We Want Development”: Land and Water (Dis)connections in Port Moresby, Urban Papua New Guinea.” The Contemporary Pacific 33 (1): 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1353/cp.2021.0001.