Learning from decline: the African Copperbelt, Detroit, and the value of unexpected comparisons

I seek to accomplish two aims in this essay. First, I offer a critical reading of two recent books on the African Copperbelt: Miles Larmer’s Living for the City and Patience Mususa’s There Used to be Order. Second, I make an argument on behalf of cross-regional comparative approaches to the study of contemporary cities. To do so, I emplace the Copperbelt in conversation with Detroit. I suggest that although there are significant differences between the two settings, an examination of similarities – a) the importance of individuated responses to urban insecurity and uncertainty and b) narratives of decline and resurgence – contribute to a better understanding of localized tactics and strategies in reaction to global processes of capitalism, inequality, and scarcity. Such an effort advocates for the need to widen the scope of urban theory-making and demonstrates what can be learned from the shared experiences of post-industrial and post-colonial decline.