Postcolonial Placemaking

Annie Hikido is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

"Postcolonial Placemaking is a beautifully written, conceptually rich, and deeply original book that combines analytical rigor with ethnographic storytelling that humanizes without romanticizing. Hikido reframes placemaking not simply as a process of transforming physical space, but as a practice of reworking colonial histories, racialized geographies, and gendered labor."—Kimberly Kay Hoang, author of Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets "In this skillfully designed and brilliantly executed ethnography Annie Hikido reveals both the achievements and limits of the placemaking practices of Black South African women entrepreneurs working at the crossroads of new neoliberal policies and the enduring legacies of apartheid. Hikido's vivid, engaging, and absorbing depictions of the inventive practices of women seeking to transform themselves and their society demonstrate how the burdens of economic survival and development today fall on the shoulders of those already disadvantaged by histories of racism, sexism, and economic exploitation."—George Lipsitz, author of Ethnic Studies at the Crossroads "Set at the conjunction of coloniality and urban entrepreneurialism, Annie Hikido shows how a self-empowerment ethos mediates white supremacist legacies and state incapacity. Her careful ethnography centers the agency and dynamism of Cape Town's Black township hostesses to explore how they navigate the dueling considerations of reputation and earnings amid severe constraint. Postcolonial Placemaking powerfully reveals the schisms, ambitions, imaginaries, and failures of the 'post'-apartheid city."—Jordanna Matlon, author of A Man among Other Men