Cartographies of Transformation in Mostar and Cape Town: Mapping as a Methodology in Divided Cities

ABSTRACT

All cities, as heterogenous spaces, are divided. However, conflict, in various forms can create cities which are monikered as ‘divided cities’. The divisions in these cities involve the segregation of communities and entrenchment of social and political divides. Through case studies situated in the spatially divided cities of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Cape Town, South Africa, this article demonstrates local resistance to top-down divisions. Theoretically and methodologically, this article contributes an understanding of mapping as a methodology which can materialise the spatial agency of local actors and can contribute to more inclusive memory work and reconstruction.

KEYWORDS:

• Mostar
• Cape Town
• mapping
• conflict transformation
• reconstruction
• space
• spatial agency

Acknowledgements

I owe considerable thanks to those who took part in my research in Mostar, and sincere thanks to Dr Stefanie Kappler who has commented on parts of this work in its earlier form in my doctoral thesis. Thanks also to the two anonymous reviewers whose comments were useful in refining the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Susan Forde is an Associate Lecturer in International Relations at the University of York. She completed her doctorate at Liverpool Hope University where she lectured International Relations while completing her PhD. Her monograph ‘Movement as Conflict Transformation: Rescripting Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina’ has recently been published in the Palgrave Macmillan series, Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies.

Notes

1 This work is informed by research conducted in Mostar, 2014–5, and research conducted in Cape Town 2017–8.

2 The term ‘Coloured’ was the official label in South Africa for persons of mixed heritage, it is used in this work in acknowledgement of how the government categorisations had a direct impact on the experience of persons categorised under such labels and is not an endorsement of the term.

3 The mechanisms of apartheid also included the prohibition of marriage between persons deemed ‘black’ and ‘white’ (Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act) along with the later banning of sexual relations between the same groups (the so-called Immorality Act).

4 For an in-depth look at the District Six removals, read Hart (1990) Political Manipulation of Urban Space: The Razing of District Six, Cape Town.

5 The 16th Of June is now celebrated as Youth Day in South Africa due to the wide impact the youth led protest had.

6 It is worth noting that this is an ongoing issue in Cape Town, with organisations such as Ndifuna Ukwazi (Dare to Know), Reclaim The City, and the Cape Town Housing Assembly pushing back against the increasing issue of a lack of affordable housing in the city and ‘the current model of exclusionary development’ (Ndifuna Ukwazi 2017; Informal conversation with CTHA 2018).