Fluid Dispossession and Infrastructure Porosity: African Port Cities

Paper Abstract: African port cities serve as vital gateways in global trade networks and are frequently sites of tension and conflict. From a geopolitical point of view, these port cities are territories and transitional zones where tensions and conflicts arise from overlapping imaginaries of both local and transnational forces, port infrastructure and technologies, and the complex labor and capital relations within the logistics industry. These forces are deeply entangled in the material and social spaces of port cities, which can not only impact local urban development but also disrupt the global trade network and maritime foreland. However, port cities are increasingly marginalized in urban studies in Africa, as the subject continuously shifted focus to capital cities.

This paper aims at bringing port cities in Africa back to the centre of urban Africa research. Through the case study of Mombasa, Kenya, and Djibouti, the paper deploys the analytical tools of ‘fluid dispossessions’ and ‘port city porosity’ to examine the complex relations between water and land, and between port infrastructure and local livelihoods. Historically, these cities have served as crucial gateways to different regions of the African continent. Today, they function as significant logistical hubs within the global trade network, with their strategic locations positioning them as focal points for transformative geopolitical and economic dynamics.