Abstract

WILHELM-SOLOMON, Matthew. Uncommon Rhythms: Rupture and Retreat in Inner-City Johannesburg. CIDADES [online]. 2024, vol.au24, pp.10-23.  Epub Nov 29, 2024. ISSN 2182-3030.  https://doi.org/10.15847/cct.34690.

This paper argues that the rhythms of life in precarious urban areas of inner-city Johannesburg are characterised by a series of chronic shocks involving fire, police raids, immigration raids and evictions. Against the backdrop of such shocks, inner-city residents, particularly the residents of unlawful occupations, attempt to form bonds of care and support among themselves. Based on long-term fieldwork, over several periods, in the area between 2010 and 2023, the paper shows that these everyday rhythms of commoning - the affective labour of forming social relations in the interstices of the state ensemble and real estate markets - are in constant play with forms of uncommoning - emergent fissures and divisions in the city. However, forms of major shock radically corrode the bases of commoning practices and dissemble everyday rhythms. In this paper, I develop the concept of ‘uncommon rhythms’ to indicate both everyday divisions and divergences and the recurrent, but unpredictable, forms of shock that shape life among precarious communities in the inner-city. I argue that secure accommodation and spaces of retreat are a necessary precondition for sustaining commoning practices.

Keywords : Johannesburg; urban rhythms; eviction; fire; unlawful occupations.

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