Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola
Includes bibliographical references.
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of Environmental and Geographical Science
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613282620145664 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Chileshe, Mutale |
| author2 | Battersby-Lennard, Jane |
| author_browse | Battersby-Lennard, Jane Chileshe, Mutale |
| author_facet | Battersby-Lennard, Jane Chileshe, Mutale |
| author_sort | Chileshe, Mutale |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Includes bibliographical references. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13215 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:40.116Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| publisherStr | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13215 Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola Chileshe, Mutale Battersby-Lennard, Jane Frayne, Bruce Environmental and Geographical Studies Includes bibliographical references. Research on poverty and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa has tended to focus on rural households and urban areas known to have concentrations of low-income households. However, consequences and effects of the recent global economic crisis such as retrenchment coupled with increasing food and fuel prices have played a major role in generating many newly poor households. The economic crisis came at a time when most developing countries were still struggling with impoverishment mainly caused by Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP). SAPs laid bare the acute vulnerability of the urban dwellers to the slightest addition al shock such as economic shocks or high food prices. In view of these effects, this study was conducted in Chingola in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia to examine the impact of economic shocks on the food security of middle class households in urban areas. Focusing on one aspect of the economic shock (retrenchments), the thesis shows how once middle class households in Chingola perceived, experienced and grappled with retrenchment in the context of increasing urban poverty and high food prices. The central thesis is that due to the rising pattern of urban risk, it is not only the rural or structural urban poor that are vulnerable to food insecurity but middle class urban households too. The study employed a mixed-method approach, which took place in two main sequential data collection phases - the quantitative component served as a basis for the sampling of cases for the qualitative component. The findings revealed that food security of the retrenched households was compromised by the economic crisis with approximately 7.4 % food secure, 4.2% mildly food insecure, 19 .1 % moderately food insecure and 69 .3 % severely food insecure. A compounding factor was that there were insufficient social protection services by government and NGOs to assist households to increase resilience to food insecurity. To survive, households employed close to thirty different strategies and tactics such as letting their houses, limiting their consumption and engaging in lucrative but unlawful activities - illegal mining, prostitution and theft. In light of these findings, the study makes a contribution to urban development and specifically to the emerging field of urban food security as it departs from the more traditional focus on the ‘old poor’ by giving specific attention to previously middle income households’ food security in the context of widespread economic shocks within the formal economy. Furthermore, it contributes to the debate on retrenchment literature by providing new information, for example, on how urban dwellers deal with shocks and the mechanisms used to help them survive in a globalised environment. Lastly, the study contributes to literature on the livelihoods of Copperbelt residents as very few scholars have explored the lives of the residents since the implementation of SAPs and the subsequent economic decline in the area. 2015-07-01T08:52:00Z 2015-07-01T08:52:00Z 2014 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13215 eng application/pdf Department of Environmental and Geographical Science Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Environmental and Geographical Studies Chileshe, Mutale Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola |
| title_full | Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola |
| title_fullStr | Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola |
| title_full_unstemmed | Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola |
| title_short | Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola |
| title_sort | economic shocks poverty and household food insecurity in urban zambia an ethnographic account of chingola |
| topic | Environmental and Geographical Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13215 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chileshemutale economicshockspovertyandhouseholdfoodinsecurityinurbanzambiaanethnographicaccountofchingola |