• Twitter
  • ➜ SUBSCRIBE
African Minds is an open access, not-for-profit publisher of scholarly books
African Minds
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Governance
    • Policies
    • Editorial board
    • Distribution network
    • Partners and memberships
  • Books
    • By topic
      • Cities
      • Education
      • Music
      • Openness
      • Politics and justice
      • Science
    • Other
      • Recently published
      • Forthcoming
      • All books
    • Other languages
      • Português
      • Français
    • Book series
      • AHED – African Higher Education Dynamic Series
      • LOITASA – Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa
      • Public Broadcasting in Africa
  • News & reviews
  • Submissions
  • Research
    • Overview
    • Research projects
      • Open Data Intermediaries and Economic Ownership Rights
      • The African university press in a digital age: practices and opportunities
      • Open data and information asymmetries
      • Open data and social inclusion
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Publication date
01/03/2019

Price (ZA)
R250.00

Book size
229 x 152 mm

Language
English

ISBN
978-1-928331-78-0

African Markets and the Utu-buntu Business Model: A Perspective in Economic Informality in Nairobi

By Mary Njeri Kinyanjui

The persistence of indigenous African markets in the context of a hostile or neglectful business and policy environment makes them worthy of analysis. An investigation of Afrocentric business ethics is long overdue. Attempting to understand the actions and efforts of informal traders and artisans from their own points of view, and analysing how they organise and get by, allows for viable approaches to be identified to integrate them into global urban models and cultures.

Using the utu-ubuntu model to understand the activities of traders and artisans in Nairobi’s markets, this book explores how, despite being consistently excluded and disadvantaged, they shape urban spaces in and around the city, and contribute to its development as a whole. With immense resilience, and without discarding their own socio-cultural or economic values, informal traders and artisans have created a territorial complex that can be described as the African metropolis.

African Markets and the Utu-buntu Business Model sheds light on the ethics and values that underpin the work of traders and artisans in Nairobi, as well as their resilience and positive impact on urbanisation. This book makes an important contribution to the discourse on urban economics and planning in African cities.

Mary Njeri Kinyanjui is a writer, researcher, teacher and volunteer community organiser. She is a firm believer in social and economic justice and self-reliance. She holds a PhD in Geography from Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge in the UK and is a senior research fellow at the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Development Studies. At the time of writing, she was a visiting associate at the Five College Womens’ Studies Research Center in Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts.

She has researched economic informality and small businesses, with particular focus on the role of grassroots and indigenous institutions, as well as gender, trade justice and peasant organisations, in the organisation of economic behaviour. Her current research is on the positioning of women peasants, artisans and traders in the global economy. Her publications include Women and the Informal Economy in Urban Africa (Zed) and Vyama Institutions of Hope: Ordinary People’s Market Coordination and Society Organization (Nsemia).

Download a digital copy

Full-text PDF

Order a print copy

African Books Collective Amazon African Minds

Related books

https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/9783110598278_cover.jpg 849 600 Francois https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/logo.png Francois2020-05-19 07:46:262020-05-22 12:29:42The Politics of Housing in (Post-)colonial Africa
https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Reflections_SA_Student_Leaders_final_Front_cover_WEB.png 849 600 vene https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/logo.png vene2020-03-16 10:36:052020-06-02 07:30:24Reflections of South Africa Student Leaders 1994 to 2017
https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Research-Excellence-COVER-final-WEB_recent.png 849 600 vene https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/logo.png vene2020-01-20 14:30:002020-06-08 08:07:45Transforming Research Excellence: New Ideas from the Global South
https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SciCom-book-cover-front_recent.png 849 600 vene https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/logo.png vene2019-11-28 14:10:002020-03-24 10:30:46Science Communication in South Africa: Reflections on Current Issues
https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Sharing-Knowledge-Cover_recent.png 849 600 vene https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/logo.png vene2019-10-19 17:36:002020-03-24 10:33:15Sharing Knowledge, Transforming Societies: The Norhed Programme 2013-2020

Browse

Browse all books

Search books

Book categories

  • Recently published
  • Forthcoming
  • Books
    • Openness
    • Education
    • Music
    • Politics and Justice
    • Science
  • Other languages
    • Português
    • Français
  • Book series
    • African Higher Education Dynamic Series (AHED)
    • LOITASA
    • Public Broadcasting in Africa

Write a review

Wish to leave a review of this book? Please complete the book review form. Your review will be published after it has passed moderation.

Share

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

In brief

African Minds is a not-for-profit, open access publisher of scholarly books based in Cape Town, South Africa. African Minds publishes predominantly in the social sciences and humanities, and its authors are typically African academics, as well as international academics who share a close affinity with the continent.


Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy

Subscribe

Name

Email*

Institution

Country

Contact us

Book orders
AFRICA:
Booksite Africa, orders@booksite.co.za
Gloria Makambi, gloria@africanminds.co.za

OUTSIDE OF AFRICA:
African Books Collective, orders@africanbookscollective.com

Editorial
editor@africanminds.co.za

General
info@africanminds.co.za


Follow us on Twitter



The content of this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Next Generation of Scientists State of Open Data
Scroll to top