2 - ‘Spaces of Resistance’– African workers at Shoprite in Maputo and Lusaka
Corresponding Author(s) : Darlene Miller
Africa Development,
Vol. 31 No. 1 (2006): Africa Development
Abstract
South Africa’s reintegration into Southern Africa since 1994 has opened the way for renewed investments by South African firms in African countries. New shopping malls are one visible impact of this post-Apartheid development. This article is about the regional claims and the regional resistance of workers at the foreign branches of Shoprite, a South African retail multinational. Two shopping mall workplaces of Shoprite in Zambia (Manda Hill) and Mozambique (Centro Commercial) are the case studies for this analysis. The paper compares the experiences of retail workers at Shoprite, a South African food supermarket chain and Africa’s largest retailer, in two cities – Maputo, Mozambique and Lusaka, Zambia, exploring the variations and similarities in the responses of workers to their South African work environments. While Zambia’s ‘expectations of modernity’ have led to disillusionment, Mozambican workers accept South African investment as a necessary phase of Mozambique’s recovery. I argue that a new regional moment is shaping the workplace experiences of African workers, opening up a new ‘space of hope’ in the region. South African retail multinational corporations are important agents of a new regional imagination amongst retail workers in post-Apartheid Southern Africa.
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- Arrighi, G., Silver, B., and Brewer, B., 2003, ‘Industrial Convergence and the Persistence of the
- North South Divide’, Studies in Comparative International Development, 38, 1, pp. 3 31.
- Bergquist, C., 1984, Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and
- Colombia, California: Sage.
- Berlanstein, L.R. ed., 1993, Rethinking Labor History, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
- Chakrabarty, D., 1989, Rethinking Working Class History: Bengal, 1890-1940, Princeton, Princeton University Press.
- Clarke, M., 2000, ‘Checking Out and Cashing Up’, Paper presented to the Trade and Industry Policy
- Secretariat, Muldersdrift, Annual Forum;
- Co per, F., 1996, Decolonization and African Society. The Labor Question in
- French and British Africa, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
- Harvey, D., 1999, Limits to Capital, New York: Blackwell.
- Harvey, D., 2003, The New Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hirschman, A.O., 1981, ‘The
- Changing Tolerance for Income Inequality in the
- Course of Economic Development’, in Essays in Trespassing, Cambridge University Press.
- Kenny, B., 2001, ‘We Are Nursing These Jobs: The Impact of Labour Market Flexibility on South
- African Retail Sector Workers’, in In: N. Newman, J. Pape & H. Jansen (eds). Is there an
- alternative? South African workers confronting globalisation, Cape Town: Ilrig.
- Kenny, B. and Webster, E., 1998, ‘Eroding the Core: Flexibility and the Re- Segmentation of the
- South African Labour Market’, Paper presented at the XIVth World Congress of Sociology,
- International Sociological Association, Montreal, 26 July–August.
- Kenny, B., 2003, ‘Work Restructuring in Food Retailing: the Long Transition to A Market Hegemony’,’
- Paper presented at the Wolpe Seminar, Johannesburg, 24–26 June.
- Miller, D., 2005, ‘New regional imaginaries in post-Apartheid Southern Africa – retail workers at a
- shopping mall in Zambia’, in The Journal of Southern African Studies, 31(1), pp.117-145.
- Perrot, M., 1986, ‘On the Formation of the French Working Class’, in I. Katznelson and A. R.
- Zolberg, eds., Working Class Formation. Nineteenth Century Patterns in Western Europe and the
- United States, New Jersey, Oxford: Princeton University Press, p. 97.
- Rees, R., 1997, ‘Flexible Labour: Meeting the Challenge’, South African Labour Bulletin, 21, 5.
- Sewell, W., 1993, ‘Toward a Post Materialist Rhetoric for Labor History’ in Berlanstein, ed.,
- Rethinking Labor History, pp. 15-38.
- Silver, B., 2003, Forces of Labor, Workers,‘ Movements and Globalization since 1870, Cambridge:
- Cambridge University Press, pp. 22–23.
- Simon, D, 2001, ‘Trading Spaces: Imagining and Positioning the A New South Africa within the
- Regional and Global Economies’, International Affairs, 77, 2, pp. 377-405.
- Thompson, E. P., 1966, The Making of the English Working Class, New York: Vintage Books.
- Valodia, I., 1989, ‘Flexibility in the Retail Industry’, Unpublished report, Durban,Trade Union Research Project.
References
Arrighi, G., Silver, B., and Brewer, B., 2003, ‘Industrial Convergence and the Persistence of the
North South Divide’, Studies in Comparative International Development, 38, 1, pp. 3 31.
Bergquist, C., 1984, Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and
Colombia, California: Sage.
Berlanstein, L.R. ed., 1993, Rethinking Labor History, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Chakrabarty, D., 1989, Rethinking Working Class History: Bengal, 1890-1940, Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Clarke, M., 2000, ‘Checking Out and Cashing Up’, Paper presented to the Trade and Industry Policy
Secretariat, Muldersdrift, Annual Forum;
Co per, F., 1996, Decolonization and African Society. The Labor Question in
French and British Africa, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
Harvey, D., 1999, Limits to Capital, New York: Blackwell.
Harvey, D., 2003, The New Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hirschman, A.O., 1981, ‘The
Changing Tolerance for Income Inequality in the
Course of Economic Development’, in Essays in Trespassing, Cambridge University Press.
Kenny, B., 2001, ‘We Are Nursing These Jobs: The Impact of Labour Market Flexibility on South
African Retail Sector Workers’, in In: N. Newman, J. Pape & H. Jansen (eds). Is there an
alternative? South African workers confronting globalisation, Cape Town: Ilrig.
Kenny, B. and Webster, E., 1998, ‘Eroding the Core: Flexibility and the Re- Segmentation of the
South African Labour Market’, Paper presented at the XIVth World Congress of Sociology,
International Sociological Association, Montreal, 26 July–August.
Kenny, B., 2003, ‘Work Restructuring in Food Retailing: the Long Transition to A Market Hegemony’,’
Paper presented at the Wolpe Seminar, Johannesburg, 24–26 June.
Miller, D., 2005, ‘New regional imaginaries in post-Apartheid Southern Africa – retail workers at a
shopping mall in Zambia’, in The Journal of Southern African Studies, 31(1), pp.117-145.
Perrot, M., 1986, ‘On the Formation of the French Working Class’, in I. Katznelson and A. R.
Zolberg, eds., Working Class Formation. Nineteenth Century Patterns in Western Europe and the
United States, New Jersey, Oxford: Princeton University Press, p. 97.
Rees, R., 1997, ‘Flexible Labour: Meeting the Challenge’, South African Labour Bulletin, 21, 5.
Sewell, W., 1993, ‘Toward a Post Materialist Rhetoric for Labor History’ in Berlanstein, ed.,
Rethinking Labor History, pp. 15-38.
Silver, B., 2003, Forces of Labor, Workers,‘ Movements and Globalization since 1870, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 22–23.
Simon, D, 2001, ‘Trading Spaces: Imagining and Positioning the A New South Africa within the
Regional and Global Economies’, International Affairs, 77, 2, pp. 377-405.
Thompson, E. P., 1966, The Making of the English Working Class, New York: Vintage Books.
Valodia, I., 1989, ‘Flexibility in the Retail Industry’, Unpublished report, Durban,Trade Union Research Project.