Introduction: City, text, future

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due, in the first instance, to Joyce Nyairo, who had to withdraw from this project owing to work commitments: her love and knowledge of Kenyan city cultures continue to be an inspiration. I am grateful to Fred M’membe and Laura Miti‐Banda for permission to reprint the column “Lusaka” from the Lusaka Post of 5 June 2004, to Frank Mbalire for providing photographs of his former bandmate Philly Lutaaya, and to S. S. Banda for permission to reprint the cover page of Dead Ends. My deepest gratitude to Voti Thebe of the National Gallery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, for making every attempt to find the authors of photographs originally published in the catalogue of Thata Camera, the 1999 exhibition of township photos curated by the late Yvonne Vera, and for granting copyright permission in their absence. Warm thanks to Lizzy Attree, Jadranka Brnčić, Stephen Chan, Brian Chikwava, Joost Fontein, Diana Jeater, Christopher Mlalazi, Edgar Moyo, Godwin Murambiwa and Andy Storey for various kinds of help and contribution. I am indebted to colleagues who refereed the academic articles in this issue, to Jenny Robinson for the Afterword, the invitation to “The Urban Salon” and much collegial support, and to Janet Wilson for editorial help and friendly engagement.