‘Vendors keep this economy running’: economic informalisation and citizenship in Harare, Zimbabwe

The thesis offers a theoretical and empirical account of how and why ideas and practices of citizenship have changed under the impact of economic informalisation in urban Zimbabwe. This issue is critical as it sheds light on the changing relationships between individuals, who had to shift from the formal sector to the informal and political and civic actors. The thesis challenges and expands the existing literature on citizenship in Africa and Zimbabwe specifically by focusing on economic informalisation as a core transformation in the economic and political life of the country that has led to changes in people’s understandings and experiences of citizenship. It does so by looking at grassroots notions of citizenship as opposed to government definitions; by considering the impact of associational life in the informal sector on the understanding and practices citizenship; and by tracking subtle changes in people’s understanding of productivity, taxation, employment, and residence as key notions of citizenship under the impact of economic informalisation. It focuses on the 2013–2018 period, although it refers to economic and political developments in Zimbabwe from the colonial period onwards to explore their implications for citizenship in the urban informal sector. The thesis argues that economic informalisation in Zimbabwe has led to a great divide between the modernist thinking and survivalist reality, which has shaped politics at all levels and, accompanied by other socio-political and economic processes has significantly affected the political terrain of the country. On the individual level, the modernist thinking–survivalist reality disconnect has led to changes in political behaviours of informal sector actors. Individuals started disengaging from the state and the city and entering new debates about the nature of citizenship, engaging in associational life in the informal sector, shaping distinct notions and practices of lived citizenship relevant to their economic reality.