Uncommon rhythms: Rupture and retreat in inner-city Johannesburg

Abstract

This paper argues that the rhythms of life in precarious urban areas like inner-city Johannesburg are characterised by a series of chronic shocks involving fire, police raids, immigration raids and evictions. Against the backdrop of such shocks, inner-city resi dents, particularly the residents of unlawful occupations, attempt to form bonds of care and support among themselves. Based on long-term fieldwork, over several periods, in the area between 2010 and 2023, the paper shows that these everyday rhythms of commoning - the affective labour of forming social relations in the interstices of the state ensemble and real estate markets - are in constant play with forms of uncommoning - emergent fissures and divisions in the city. However, forms of major shock radically corrode the bases of commoning practices and dissemble everyday rhythms. In this paper, I develop the concept of "uncommon rhythms" to indicate both everyday divisions and divergences and the recurrent, but unpredictable, forms of shock that shape life among precarious communities in the inner-city. I argue that secure accommodation and spaces of retreat are a necessary precondition for sustaining commoning practices.