Urban informality in the North and South - imaginaries and recompositions

Symposium organized by Elieth Eyebiyi, 2021-2022 Paris IAS Fellow,with the support of the European Commission in the frame of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Programme.

Presentation

Research on informality generally focuses on the so-called informal sectors, with an emphasis on societies in the South, using geography, urban sociology and economics. However, as a process, informality remains consubstantial to all societies in the North and South and offers a wider field of analysis, at the confluence of many disciplines, social and professional practices. Moreover, research works tend to maintain a certain artificial dichotomy between urban and rural spaces. It is therefore appropriate to question informality from a multidisciplinary perspective that transcends the question of labour and gives space to the study of imaginaries, processes, practices.

The symposium aims to examine the extent to which urbanity and informality enter into dialogue or confrontation, define or recompose themselves, under what modalities and temporalities, and this from various geographical spaces (North and South). Specifically, the aim will be to question on the one hand the (new) faces of informality in urban and semi-urban spaces, and their imaginaries, with a focus on cross-border spaces as much as possible. On the other hand, attention will be paid to the analysis of temporalities, and urban imaginaries of informality. It will also investigate the risks and opportunities as perceived on the ground and to which the processes of informalization give life, as well as the games of actors of the stakeholders.

Program

Avril 6, 2022

From 8:45am to 9:00am
Welcome
Elieth Eyebiyi (IEA de Paris & CESSMA), Saskia Cousin (Sophiapol, Paris Nanterre) & Simon Luck (IEA de Paris)

From 9:00am to 9:30am
Opening
James Hollifield (Southern Methodist University, Texas & IEA de Paris)
Elieth Eyebiyi (IEA de Paris & CESSMA)
Dealing with Informality in Risks contexts. Decentering perspectives

From 9:30 to 11:00
PANEL 1 : Urban Dynamics of Informality and Circulations
Chair: James Hollifield (Southern Methodist University, Texas & IEA)
Discussant : Ozan Karaman (ENPC)

1. Pascale Trompette (PACTE-CNRS) & Anastasia Seferiadis (LPED – IRD)
   The territorialization of urban informal trade. The case of Petersen - Sandaga in Dakar
2. Traore N’gna (Institut des Sciences Humaines de Bamako, Mali)
   Orpaillage « informel » et dynamiques urbaines dans l’Ouest du Mali : le triptyque emploi-circulation matérielle et investissements.
3. Mohamed Friha (CANTHEL & EXPERICE-Paris 8)
   Les grands Sarrâfs d’Anjra et le réseau de la criminalité financière internationale

From 11:00 to 11:15
Break

From 11:15 to 12:45
PANEL 2 : Risks, Opportunities and Imaginaries
Chair : Saskia Cousin (Sophiapol, Paris Nanterre)
Discussant : Amandine Spire (CESSMA/Université de Paris)

1. Marie Deridder(Uppsala University)
   A truck drivers' eye view of insecurity in Burkina Faso
2. Sylvie Ayimpam (Institut des Mondes Africains, Aix-Marseille Université)
   Les commerçants du grand marché de Ouagadougou face aux risques des pratiques économiques informelles
3. Dominique Mathon (Département d'études urbaines et touristiques, UQAM)
   Cross-border mobilities in Ouanaminthe - Dajabon creating temporal and informal urban spaces: faces of urbanity

From 14:00 to 16:00
PANEL 3 : Spaces, Cities and Urban informality
Chair : Stéphane Dufoix (IUF & Sophiapol)
Discussant : Lamia Missaoui (Printemps, UVSQ / Paris Saclay)

1. Abel Polese (Dublin City University, Ireland)
   Informality, solidarity and support: exploring the tradition of Okinawan Moai (模合)
2. Carwyn Morris (Manchester China Institute, The University of Manchester)
   The informal spatialities of Beijing’s hybrid physical and digital foodscapes
   
3. Marie Gibert (Université de Paris / CESSMA)
   Reclaiming the streets from the Apps? Rethinking urban informality in the digital age. Perspectives from Vietnam

From 16:00 to 16:15
Break

From 16:15 to 17:15
Forward-looking session

April 7, 2022

From 9:30 to 11:00
PANEL 4 : Urban Spaces, temporalities and public policies
Chair : Pamela Surkan ( John Hopkins/ IEA de Paris)
Discussant : Raul Matta (University of Göttingen / IEA de Paris)

1. Karine Bennafla (Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 Lyon, France)
   Regards croisés sur l'action publique face au commerce informel à partir d'exemples au Moyen-Orient et en France
2. Valérie Clerc, (IRD / CESSMA)
   Les quartiers informels comme catégorie de l'action publique : un renversement pour l’analyse.
3. Francesco Chiodelli (University of Turin, Italy)
   Toward an interpretative toolkit for urban informality: five theses stemming from Southern European informal housing
4. Khalid Mouna (Université Moulay Ismail, Maroc)
   Les squats des usagers de l’héroïne : un espace d’informalité et de résistance

From 11:00 to 11:15
Break

From 11:15 to 12:00
Networking

Practical Information

Free admission with mandatory registration, see the forms below.