“I Do Not See Them As My Competitors:” Survivalist Improvisation Through Mutual Aid Among Black Female B&B And Guesthouse Entrepreneurs In The Cape Town Townships

This article examines how black female bed and breakfast (B&B) and guesthouse entrepreneurs in the black townships in Cape Town, South Africa were engaged in survivalist improvisation through the extension of mutual aid to each other. The study is based upon qualitative research involving interviews of such entrepreneurs, who provided overnight accommodations to visitors to the townships of Langa, Gugulethu, and Khayelitsha. The article provides a brief history of the emergence of such entrepreneurs in the post-apartheid period, explains the gendered category that they represent, and describes their more recent primary guest clientele. It also discusses the theoretical underpinnings related to the use of the survivalist improvisation framework to understand the experiences of these entrepreneurs in the black townships. Findings from this study demonstrate that the black female B&B and guesthouse entrepreneurs, when at capacity, were involved in survivalist improvisation related to the use of their distributed channels and networks to refer guests to other black female B&B and guesthouse entrepreneurs in the black townships. In such circumstances, they improvised with each other. Also, the findings of the study highlight how the distributed channels and networks of these entrepreneurs were shaped by social processes and relationships that facilitated survivalist improvisation through the provision of mutual aid. The black female entrepreneurs in this study were neighbors, friends, mentors, and mentees who shared information, advice, encouragement, and resources, including overflow guests, with each other. They believed that their cooperation with one another as collaborators instead of being competitors or rivals contributed to the survival of their businesses and the black township tourism accommodation subsector. In addition, the findings show that these entrepreneurs’ engagement in survivalist improvisation occurred within the neoliberal context of South Africa and that their provision of mutual aid to one another did not undermine neoliberal economic practice but enhanced it by supporting entrepreneurism in the black townships in Cape Town.