Nairobi Today

Town Life in Colonial Kenya

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pp. 3-22

City planning in Nairobi: the stakes, the people, the sidetracking

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pp. 25-60

Public authorities and urban upgrading policies in Eastlands: the example of ‘Mathare 4A Slum Upgrading Project’

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pp. 61-94

Management of garbage in Nairobi: perspectives of restructuring public action

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pp. 95-120

Nairobi’s basic public services, particularly the management of garbage, have been a recurring concern of the public authorities since the foundation of the city in 1899. Due to the importance of these services for the city’s health,      beginning of the 20th century.3

Water and the poor in Nairobi: from water apartheid to urban fragmentation: The Case of Kibera

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pp. 121-148

Nairobi is strongly marked by the social and spatial segregation established during the colonial era. The city today still carries these signs, but independence and certain economic developments have led to more subtle social distinctions. A differentiation within the black population itself has now succeeded the colonial racial discrimination between blacks and whites. ...

Grey Nairobi: Sketches of Urban socialties

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pp. 151-198

That Nairobi feels grey does not make it dull.1  your eye not as colourful sprigs, but as mauve mists passing away like shadows. @     Q          @      

A microcosmic minority: the Indo-Kenyans of Nairobi

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pp. 199-252

Anyone who has ever lived in Nairobi will have noticed the Indian presence to the point of overestimating its demographic importance. In an African country such as Kenya, which has cast off a large number of traditional values (particularly tribal dress), meeting representatives of the Indian Diaspora brings back to mind the clichés of a melting pot ...

Muslims in Nairobi: from a feeling of marginalisation to a desire for political recognition

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pp. 253-288

Islam was introduced to Nairobi at the end of the 19th century by Swahili or Arab merchants who founded the Muslim villages of Mombasa town, Unguja, & Q‚'     marrying women of different ethnic groups from within the country2 who   "

Pentecostalism in Nairobi

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pp. 289-302

An old dilapidated theatre concels a church that was built, quite literally, from the inside.¹ Instead of the screen, there is a building site: a stage with walls under construction representing two towers, an arch, and the beginning of what will be a baptistery. This new structure is about 15 metres high and can hold more than 700 people. ...

Local Political System of Nairobi

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pp. 305-326

Nairobi’s local political system should be discussed and understood in the context of the political system of Local Authorities in Kenya as constituted in the Local Government Act Chapter 265. In this context, this section begins with an overview of the political system in Local Authorities (LAs) in Kenya, ...

‘A city under siege’: formalised banditry and deconstruction of modes of accumulation in Nairobi, 1991–2004

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pp. 327-350

A combination of internal and external pressures exerted on the Kenyan regime by various actors had a profound impact on modes of socioeconomic engagements and accumulations in Nairobi. This was with a view to compelling the regime to institute political and economic liberalisation. At one level, ...

Hidden $ Centz: rolling the wheels of Nairobi matatu

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pp. 351-364

A hot October afternoon. I am standing at the Tusker lay-by right in the heart of the Central Business District. A sea of humanity crushes into me from all directions. It is approaching the afternoon rush hour, and from the build-up of human activity spurred on by the sight of heavy rain clouds drifting towards the city ...

Political activism in Nairobi: violence and resilience of Kenyan authoritarianism

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pp. 365-390

Political action in Kenya essentially takes the form of demonstrations, urban revolt and even, as in 1982, attempted coups d’État. Violence is the result of constraints imposed on a society by political authoritarianism which has continually governed the functioning of the State since its appearance ...