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Gabriella Körling

About me

I am a cultural and social anthropologist with a thematic specialization in urban and political anthropology, and a regional specialization on sub-Saharan Africa in general and on Francophone West Africa and the Sahel in particular, mainly on Niger.

My specific fieldwork area includes urban and peri-urban Niger encompassing, besides the capital Niamey, also smaller urban realities. The overall theme of my research has been the exploration of different facets of the state through which I have come to focus on the provision of infrastructure from the small scale like neighborhood health centers and public schools to the large scale like transport infrastructure. A central concern has been how the state structure people’s daily lives and possibilities.

I am currently working in the collaborative and comparative research project Emergent “world-class” transport infrastructures: urban visions and infrastructural spaces in African cities focusing on transport infrastructure projects in urban Africa (Maputo, Niamey, Dar es Salaam & Accra) and on their impact on urban space. In the project I coordinate the case study in Niamey in collaboration with researchers at the Department of Geography at Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey.

I am a member of the Urban Africa research group at the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University.

Research projects

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Bricks, Documents and Pipes

    2020. Gabriella Körling. City & Society 32 (1), 23-46

    Article

    In this article I explore the ways in which material things—bricks, documents, pipes, and utility poles—mediate everyday life and politics in informal neighborhoods in Niamey, the capital of Niger. I argue that informal neighborhoods are key sites where the material becomes political. Created “from below,” these neighborhoods are literally constructed brick by brick through the gradual division of land plots, the incremental construction and improvement of houses, the negotiation of connections to the water and electricity networks, and attempts at securing public service provision. These material transformations are central to residents’ quest for legitimation in a context of insecure land tenure (rights). I pay particular attention to the ways in which these material transformations are mediated by social and political relations involving both state and non‐state actors (including the traditional chieftaincy, NGOs, public and private companies, and the municipality). In sum, the analysis of material transformations and interventions in informal neighborhoods elucidates the important role of infrastructure and other material things in shaping urban landscapes and in mediating political subjectivities in Niamey.

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  • Démocratie par le bas et politique municipale au Sahel

    2019. .

    Book (ed)

    Cet ouvrage collectif engage une analyse ethnographique des communes sahéliennes, notamment celles du Burkina Faso, du Mali et du Niger. A travers des études de cas, l"idée est de décrire la démocratie locale telle qu"elle est pratiquée au niveau municipal. La commune est au coeur de la réflexion pour plusieurs raisons. C"est dans la commune que les plans de développement sont mis en oeuvre. La commune est aussi le lieu où les politiques publiques prennent corps dans la vie quotidienne des citoyens. Elle est également l"espace local où la réalisation d"infrastructures et d"actions de développement se concrétise. La commune abrite le conseil municipal, cette nouvelle institution locale. C"est dans la commune que « la forme » et « la substance » de la démocratie se confrontent.

    La commune sahélienne est une arène, un espace public, une représentation culturelle, une institution nouvelle et un enjeu. Elle est « le retour à la maison » en même temps qu"elle est une nouvelle création de l"État. La commune et ses représentants sont traités de tous les noms ; elle est la cible des ragots et des revendications, des mobilisations et des manquements, des développements et des détournements.

    L"ouvrage est le résultat de plusieurs projets de recherche entre le Département d"anthropologie culturelle et d"ethnologie / Forum for Africa Studies de l"université d"Uppsala (Suède), l"Institut des sciences des sociétés du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (Burkina Faso) et le centre de recherche Point Sud (Mali). La plupart de chapitres ont été écrits en tandem entre chercheurs seniors et juniors dans un esprit collaboratif engagé.

    Read more about Démocratie par le bas et politique municipale au Sahel

  • Urban land contestations and political mobilisation

    2016. Sten Hagberg, Gabriella Körling. Social Anthropology 24 (3), 294-308

    Article

    The paper is based on anthropological research on socio-political opposition in West African municipalities. We analyse how land schemes for urban development are at the centre of social contest and political mobilisation in municipalities, by developing examples from peri-urban areas of Bamako, Mali and Niamey, Niger. We point to several contradictions that lie at the heart of zoning, one of the most dominant forms of urban land management and urban development in many cities in West Africa. They concern, first, who actually benefits from zoning projects and the promises of development and modernisation; second, the dual role of zoning projects as sources of both public resources and private enrichment; third, the gradual replacement of village populations and the rekindling of a politics of belonging; and, finally, the emergence of new political moralities in the face of corruption and mismanagement. We conclude that urban land contests are simultaneously sources and resources of authority and protest. While the skilful and creative combination of these sources and resources is an asset in municipal politics, political mobilisation is also fuelled by protest movements of those marginalised in urban land management schemes, carving out new spaces for socio-political opposition in West African municipalities.

    Read more about Urban land contestations and political mobilisation

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