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About Me
- rn
- I spent most of the past four years hanging out with street hawkers, smugglers, and sub-rosa import/export firms to write Stealth of Nations, a book that chronicles the global growth of System D--the parallel economic arena that today accounts for half the jobs on the planet. Prior to that, I lived in squatter communities across four continents to write Shadow Cities, a book that attempts to humanize these vibrant, energetic, and horribly misunderstood communities. My articles on cities, politics, and economic issues have appeared in many publications, including Harper's, Scientific American, Forbes, Fortune, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Metropolis, and City Limits. Before becoming a reporter, I worked as a community organizer and studied philosophy. I live in New York City and do most of my writing on manual typewriters.
1 comment:
Obviously I am a bit behind on the news. I just saw this. Very sad. I was in Accra last October/November, doing a housing study; Sodom and Gomorrah was one of the settlements I covered.
Two fires in a month sounds a bit suspicious to me.... given that the settlement is controversial to begin with. The government has resettled "squatters" from there once before, and there are on-going attempts to clear this site once again (the proposal is to resettle the residents some 20 miles away. The details are stil being worked out.) Red flags, anyone?
S&G, despite it's name, and despite being one of the most horrific places to live in (in my experience), is truly amazing -- a vivid example of how even the poorest of the poor learn to survive. The settlement a hub for entrepreneurial activity; it's divided into smaller neighborhoods by occupation (wood/carpentry; auto repair, vegetable selling, etc..) and ethnicity/religion. Lack of basic water and sanitation is not a deterrant: there are private paid toilets/ baths(even if the quality may be objectionable!), water for drinking can be bought in little sachets; washerwomen do your laundry for a small fee; food vendors cook and sell food (which works out cheaper than cooking yourself), and so on. This truely is a city in itself, in need of a lot of help, but rich in character, diversity, and markets.
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