Klandos and Jakartas. Informality and State in Two Mobility Systems in Lower Casamance, Senegal

• Main Authors: Marta Contijoch Torres, Romina Martínez Algueró, Manuel Delgado Ruíz
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red 2021-05-01
• Series: Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red
• Online Access: https://www.aibr.org/antropologia/netesp/numeros/1602/160209e.pdf

This article presents and analyses a series of social processes by which both the unregulated shared taxi system — klandos — and the motorbike taxi system — jakartas — operate with-in the dynamics of movement in the historical and natural region of Lower Casamance (Sen-egal). Focusing on Ziguinchor, the principal town, it looks in detail at the rationale behind these processes and opens up a critical discussion on the notion of “informality” as it is applied to urban African contexts. We examine both daily and ambivalent links between an apparent-ly illegal public service and the state which tolerates, and even protects it, relying on it to meet the mobility needs of civil servants, while also subtly exercising control over it.