How a Slum is (Re)Produced : An Ethnography of Kibera and Korogocho in Nairobi

This book offers an in-depth ethnographic analysis of how slums are produced and reproduced as physical, symbolic, and socio-political formations. It explores slums not as static spaces of deprivation but as dynamic, relational environments shaped by history, discourse, infrastructure, and everyday practices.

How a Slum is (Re)Produced: An Ethnography of Kibera and Korogocho in Nairobi offers an in-depth ethnographic analysis of how slums are produced and reproduced as physical, symbolic, and socio-political formations. Based on 20 months of immersive fieldwork conducted between 2010 and 2015 in two of Nairobi’s largest informal settlements, this book explores slums not as static spaces of deprivation, but as dynamic, relational environments shaped by history, discourse, infrastructure, and everyday practices. Drawing on participant observation and 200 biographical interviews, the book examines how slum territories are formed, named, branded, inhabited, and governed. It traces how state policies, humanitarian interventions, and market imaginaries intersect with residents’ own practices of housing, work, security, and mutual support. Chapters address issues such as property relations, informal economies, aid and development, and practices of community justice, showing how stability and social order are actively produced under conditions of chronic uncertainty. Combining rich ethnographic description with conceptual clarity, this book is key reading for scholars in urban anthropology, African studies, and development research.