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    Matatu

    A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi

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    Author(s)
    Mutongi, Kenda
    Language
    English
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    Abstract
    Drive the streets of Nairobi, and you are sure to see many matatus—colorful minibuses that transport huge numbers of people around the city. Once ramshackle affairs held together with duct tape and wire, matatus today are name-brand vehicles maxed out with aftermarket detailing. They can be stately black or extravagantly colored, sporting names, slogans, or entire tableaus, with airbrushed portraits of everyone from Kanye West to Barack Obama. In this richly interdisciplinary book, Kenda Mutongi explores the history of the matatu from the 1960s to the present. As Mutongi shows, matatus offer a window onto the socioeconomic and political conditions of late-twentieth-century Africa. In their diversity of idiosyncratic designs, they reflect multiple and divergent aspects of Kenyan life—including, for example, rapid urbanization, organized crime, entrepreneurship, social insecurity, the transition to democracy, and popular culture—at once embodying Kenya’s staggering social problems as well as the bright promises of its future. Offering a shining model of interdisciplinary analysis, Mutongi mixes historical, ethnographic, literary, linguistic, and economic approaches to tell the story of the matatu and explore the entrepreneurial aesthetics of the postcolonial world.
    URI
    https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/63441
    Keywords
    east african history; mass transit; kenya; africa; public transportation; ethnic studies; nairobi; matatu; matatus; colorful minibus; ramshackle; vehicles; aftermarket detailing; taxis; kanye west; barack obama; interdisciplinary research; 1960s; 20th century; socioeconomic; political conditions; diversity; idiosyncratic designs; kenyan life; rapid urbanization; organized crime; entrepreneurship; social insecurity; transition to democracy; society; popular culture
    DOI
    10.7208/chicago/9780226471426.001.0001
    ISBN
    9780226471426, 9780226130866, 9780226471396, 9780226471426
    Publisher
    University of Chicago Press
    Publisher website
    https://press.uchicago.edu/index.html
    Publication date and place
    Chicago, 2017
    Imprint
    University of Chicago Press
    Classification
    History
    African history
    Anthropology
    Buses, trams and commercial vehicles: general interest
    Urban communities
    Pages
    352
    Rights
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
    • Imported or submitted locally

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    License

    • If not noted otherwise all contents are available under Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

    Credits

    • logo EU
    • This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 683680, 810640, 871069 and 964352.

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