Table Of ContentYoung People’s
Daily Mobilities in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Moving Young Lives
Gina Porter
with
Kate Hampshire,
Albert Abane,
Alister Munthali,
Elsbeth Robson,
& Mac Mashiri
A nthropology, Change, and Development
S eries Editors
L aura C amf eld
U niversity of East Anglia
N orwich, U nited Kingdom
C atherine L ocke
P rogress in Development Studies
D evelopment Studies Institute, LSE
L ondon , U nited Kingdom
L an A nh H oang
S chool of Social and Political Sciences
U niversity of Melbourne
M elbourne, A ustralia
M ainstream development studies have tended to neglect important
aspects of experience in developing countries that fall outside the conven-
tional preserve of development intervention. These neglected phenomena
include consumption, modernity, and mobility and ambivalent experi-
ences such as uncertainty, mistrust, jealousy, envy, love, emotion, hope,
religious and spiritual belief, personhood and other experiences through-
out the lifecourse. They have most closely been addressed through criti-
cal ethnography in the context of contemporary developing societies. We
invite volumes that focus on the value of ethnography of these contem-
porary experiences of development (as change), not only to address these
neglected phenomena, but also to enrich social science thinking about
development.
M ore information about this series at
h ttp://www.springer.com/series/14768
G ina P orter • K ate H ampshire • A lbert A bane • A lister M unthali •
E lsbeth R obson • M ac M ashiri
Y oung People’s
Daily Mobilities in
Sub-Saharan Africa
M oving Young Lives
G ina P orter A lister M unthali
D epartment of Anthropology C entre for Social Research
D urham University U niversity of Malawi
D urham, U K Z omba, M alawi
K ate H ampshire E lsbeth R obson
D epartment of Anthropology D epartment of Geography,
D urham University Environment and Earth Science
D urham, U K U niversity of Hull
H ull , U K
A lbert A bane
D epartment of Geography and M ac M ashiri
Regional Planning G warajena Transport Research &
U niversity of Cape Coast Development
C ape Coast, G hana P retoria, S outh Africa
I SBN 978-1-137-45430-0 ISBN 978-1-137-45431-7 (eBook)
D OI 10.1057/978-1-137-45431-7
L ibrary of Congress Control Number: 2016957162
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 017
T his work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specif cally the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microf lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
T he use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specif c statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
T he publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
C over illustration: © Tamara Murray / Getty images
P rinted on acid-free paper
T his Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
T he registered company is Nature America Inc.
T he registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T his book draws on data from a series of research projects. The Gomoa stud-
ies were funded by the UK Department for International Development,
principally through two projects; Access to market opportunities in
Ghana’s off-road communities: Phase 1 (1998–1999 R7149) and Action
research to evaluate the impact on livelihoods of a set of post-harvest
interventions in Ghana’s off-road settlements: focus on Intermediate
Means of Transport (2000–2003, R7575). The pilot research on develop-
ing a participatory child-centred methodology was also funded by DFID
(2004–2005, R8373). The core CM project Children’s transport and
mobility: developing a child-centred evidence base to improve policy and
change thinking across Africa was funded by the UK Economic and Social
Research Council and UK Department for International Development
(2006–2010, ES/D002745/1).
V ery many thanks are due to all the people who, over the years, have
given so many hours of their time helping provide the information on
which these studies are based, to the young researchers who participated
so enthusiastically in the child researcher pilots and the CM study and to
the many research assistants who have supported these projects. Details
of names and contributions are provided at the end of Chap. 1 in ‘A note
about authorship’.
v
C ONTENTS
1 I ntroduction: Children, Young People and the ‘Mobilities
Turn’ in Sub-Saharan Africa 1
2 I dentifying Research Gaps and Building a Field Research
Methodology with Young People 2 3
3 E xperiencing the Journey to School: Rural and Urban
Narratives 65
4 B alancing the Load: Mobility, Work and Income Generation 9 1
5 B eyond the School and Working Day: Building Connections
Through Play, Leisure, Worship and Other Social Contact 123
6 M obility and Health: Young People’s Health-Seeking
Behaviour and Physical Access to Health Services 153
7 N egotiating Transport, Travel and Traff c, Part 1: Walking
and Cycling 1 79
vii
viii CONTENTS
8 N egotiating Transport, Travel and Traff c, Part 2:
Motor-Mobility, Traff c Risk and Road Safety 203
9 C onclusion: Ref ecting on Theory and Method,
Practice and Policy 2 27
I ndex 2 45
L IST OF FIGURES
I mage 2.1 Accompanied walks in progress: South Africa 4 4
I mage 2.2 Accompanied walks in progress: Malawi 45
F igure 2.1 M ap showing approximate location of the
24 CM research sites 59
I mage 3.1 Simon’s foot 7 3
I mage 4.1 Carrying groceries on the way home from school, Eastern Cape 9 5
I mage 7.1 Only a few boys are able to cycle to school 1 89
I mage 8.1 Crossing the road can be a hazardous business 2 17
ix
L IST OF TABLES
T able 3.1 C hildren’s estimated daily travel time to school on the
most recent school day (N = 2006) 7 1
T able 6.1 R eported use of health services (at any type of
health facility) in the last 12 months 1 56
T able 6.2 P ercentage of young people c. 9–18y reporting
diff culties in travel to health services 1 57
xi
