Overview

The Chaos Precinct takes readers to a corner of Johannesburg that defies the maps and rewrites the story of the city. In the heart of the inner city – where Jeppe Street thrums with life – lies a vibrant, chaotic marketplace powered by Ethiopian migrant traders and informal entrepreneurs from across the continent. Here, amid narrow alleyways and makeshift stalls, commodities flow across sub-Saharan Africa, fortunes are made and an unplanned but fiercely alive urban economy pulses with ambition. Drawing on fifteen years of immersion, Tanya Zack offers an unforgettable narrative that blends personal encounters, rich storytelling and rigorous research. She walks with traders, negotiates space with city officials and listens with humility to those often unheard – weaving a portrait of Jeppe that is both intimate and expansive. The Chaos Precinct challenges the idea of Johannesburg’s decay, instead revealing a thriving, transnational entrepôt that echoes the energy of global port cities. With lyrical prose and a clear-eyed gaze, Zack reframes how we understand migration, trade and urban life on the continent. Urgent, insightful and profoundly human, The Chaos Precinct is essential reading for anyone curious about the real engines of African cities.

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9781431436033

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Tanya Zack is a South African urban planner and writer whose work has focused on urban regeneration, contemporary migration, informal work, urban policy and affordable housing. Her writing in Wake Up, This Is Joburg (Duke University Press, 2022) has been lauded for being amongst the freshest and most original material on an African city. It was included in the longlist of the 2024 Sunday Times/Exclusive Books Literary Awards. The products of her professional practice in Johannesburg's inner city, including an inner-city transformation policy, and a study of cross border shopping, are recognised as ground-breaking interventions. She grew up in a working-class suburb on the edge of the inner-city.

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