Fellowship: Rocca Dissertation
Fellowship Year: 2025
Project Theme/Title: Where we Draw the Line: Exploring Subjective Understandings of neighborhoods in Urban Kenya
Abstract: Neighborhoods remain important sites of political activity. Research in political science shows that neighborhood poverty, particularly in inner cities, influences political empowerment and participation. However, despite extensive research on neighborhood effects, we lack insight into how neighborhoods are subjectively understood and experienced by the individuals who live in them. This gap is especially pronounced in African urban centers, where subjective understandings of neighborhoods play a role in shaping identity and collective action. Drawing from evidence including mental mapping, archival work, and surveys in Nairobi, my dissertation seeks to advance our knowledge on local geography, particularly neighborhoods. I first trace the processes through which neighborhood boundaries are created. I then explore how subjective neighborhood understandings shape identity and collective action. Finally, I integrate these insights to develop a broader framework that examines how subjective neighborhood boundaries interact with patterns of segregation, enhancing our understanding of spatial fragmentation in African cities.
Fellowship: Rocca Dissertation
Fellowship Year: 2024
Project Theme/Title: Living Apart: Assessing the Impact of Urban Segregation in East Africa
