Demystifying Somali residence and mobility in urban East Africa, this volume shows its historical depth, and explores the social, cultural and political underpinnings of Somali-led urban transformation.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations PART I: INTRODUCTIONS Introduction: Mobile Urbanity: Somali Presence in Urban East Africa Tabea Scharrer and Neil Carrier Interlude: Being and Becoming Mobile Yusuf Hassan PART II: URBANITY Chapter 1. The Somali Factor in Urban Kenya: A History Hannah Whittaker Chapter 2. The Port and the Island: Cosmopolitan and Vernacular Identity Constructions among Somali Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg Nereida Ripero-Muñiz Chapter 3. Being Oromo in Nairobi’s ‘Little Mogadishu’: Superdiversity, Moral Community and the Open Economy Neil Carrier and Hassan H. Kochore PART III: ECONOMIC NETWORKS Chapter 4. Demanding and Commanding Goods: The Eastleigh Transformation Told through the ‘Lives’ of Its Commodities Neil Carrier and Hannah Elliott Chapter 5. Capital Mobilization among the Somali Refugee Business Community in Eastleigh, Nairobi John Mwangi Githigaro and Kenneth Omeje Chapter 6. Challenging the Status Quo from the Bottom Up? Gender and Enterprise in Somali Migrant Communities in Nairobi, Kenya Holly A. Ritchie Chapter 7. Reinventing Retail: ‘Somali’ Shopping Centres in Kenya Tabea Scharrer PART IV: THE POLITICS OF SOMALI MOBILITY Chapter 8. Perpetually in Transit: Somalian Refugees in a Context of Increasing Hostility Lucy Lowe and Mark Yarnell Chapter 9. Framing the Swoop: A Comparative Analysis of Operation Usalama Watch in Muslim and Secular Print Media in Kenya Joseph Wandera and Halkano Abdi Wario Chapter 10. Beyond Eastleigh: A New Little Mogadishu in Uganda? Gianluca Iazzolino Afterword Günther Schlee Glossary Index

“Despite its theoretical understatement, the work develops significant ethnographic insights into the ways in which migrants and cities constantly remake each other in conjunction with the circulation of goods, discourses, and ideas. The volume’s focus on eastern Africa makes it a must-read for regionally focused urbanists. It also raises questions for further research on how eastern Africa’s mobile urbanity might be connecting in new ways to urban lives beyond Africa.” • JRAI “This book is a microcosm of the broader processes that reinforce urban mobilities at the local levels…[It] contributes to a better understanding of these dynamics and reveals the constant state of mobility within urban areas.” • City and Society “This book is a vital resource to Anthropologists, Historians, Tourists, Educators and Students, Economists and Business enthusiasts…Overall, a detailed story of Somali mobile urbanity in East Africa is well written and presented in a readable, scholarly, and entertaining style.” • Ethnic & Racial Studies “This is an important book and one that is sorely needed… it corrects a misperception that Somalis are mainly pastoralists, when in fact they have a long tradition of living in towns and engaging in non-pastoral livelihoods, such as commerce.” • Peter D. Little, Emory University