"What the hell can a slum dog possibly know?" Particiaptory Slum Upgrading

As I sat on my sofa, ready to unwind from a busy week, I decided to watch a film. I chose ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, however, as I began watching it, I found myself unable to separate what I was watching on screen from Water & Development in Africa- great! My (not quite) relaxing activity quickly became the backbone of this blog. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ tells a captivating story of a poor orphan’s precarious childhood, growing up in Mumbai’s slums. I know that this course is Water and Development in Africa, so I will keep my film analysis broad, and instead focus on some of the thoughts that it provoked.  

The films depictions of slums:

There are more than 200, 000 slums on earth, each varying from one settlement to another however slums have shared characteristics, one of which being a lack of basic services, especially water and sanitation infrastructure (Davies 2006). In the film, the protagonist, Jamal, plunges from a hanging latrine into a pool of faeces to get a famous Indian movie star’s signature. The hanging latrine dumped human waste straight into the river, right next to the slum (Figure 1). The lack of toilet facilities in the film is representative of the 2 million people worldwide who lack access to a toilet. 

 Figure 1: ‘Hanging latrines’ 

'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008)

 

Other scenes show open rubbish heaps right next to the slums (Figure 2). Slums frequently emerge on illegal land, meaning they are excluded from municipal provisions such as rubbish and waste collection. Inadequate sanitation is a big threat to public health, coupled with poor housing and overcrowding. As the camera zooms out and the scale of the slum, and the people that it affects it can be acknowledged (Figure 3). 

 

Figure 2: unsanitary conditions 

'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008)

 Figure 3: Overcrowded in the slums 

'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008)

Participatory Slum Upgrading as a Solution?

MacPherson (2013) makes the argument that virtually all manifestations of poverty in urban Africa are intrinsically linked to poor housing. Therefore, to prevent the urban becoming poorer, improve health outcomes, economic opportunities, and meet the needs of the “Millions of newcomers,” expected in African cities in the next few decades, it is imperative that the living conditions of slum dwellers, such as Jamal and his brother are improved. Participatory slum upgrading has been regarded the most effective method for mitigating problems by slum dwellers and is actualised in the forms of improved infrastructure and access to communal facilities (UN HABITAT 2010). 

 

With such a complex problem, it would be reductionist to assume that there is slum upgrading is without its flaws. Embedded within slum upgrading are many challenges, one of which is elite capture, identified by Rigon 2014. Elite capture his when community leaders do not represent the needs of the community  often ignoring the more marginalised, and creating, "Parallel structures that detract from the very aims of the development." An example of this, is the 1970’s ‘site and service’ scheme which was supposed to relocate slum dwellers to different areas and provide them with basic urban infrastructure was not economically sustainable as they were conceived to middle class standards, rather than to the target group and resulted in gentrification (Rigon 2014). 

 

The Korogocho informal settlement, is one of Nairobi's major informal settlements and they managed to overcome elite capture through the mobilisation of a 50-member committee of representatives from all the villages within Korogocho to work with the stakeholders. The committee was large enough to represent diverse interests of the settlement and they were able to upgrade projects which included improving sanitation facilities, land tenure, road construction and boundary identification. Upgrading was participatory throughout the project, from implementation all the way through to monitoring and evaluation.

 

Concluding thoughts:

 

Unlike the questions presented on the game show, the problem of slums cannot simply be reduced into a multiple choice. The existence of slums is because of complex histories, and each country, region and slum have different structural forces which have formed the slum. Each development approach has strengths and weaknesses embedded within it, which need to be considered to ensure that they meet the needs of the urban poor, rather than reinforcing power structures in place. When game show host famously asks Jamal, “What the hell can a slum dog possibly know?” , I believe the answer is a lot. The example of participatory slum upgrading in Korogocho show how local communities can be agents of their own development. and having previously mentioned colonial knowledge, it is important not to overlook these case studies.

 

“Doctors, lawyers, PHD’s couldn’t answer these questions, but you could?” 

 

Maybe the answers to some of the challenges of slums lies within the slums.  This goes back to the challenge of decolonialising knowledge and recognising that knowledge can emerge outside of schools, universities and other formal institutions.

*Just before I finish this blog, I am aware that Slumdog millionaire is controversial in its portrayal of India and Poverty. Whilst it does shine a light on some key issues, and project them into a stage which they usually don’t appear on, I can understand why it is contested, especially given the cross-cultural representations of India by the West.  I have taken the film at face value and would be keen to engage in discussion surrounding its portrayal. If anyone has any film recommendations, specifically films emerging from the Global South, I would be very interested to hear them.  

Bibliography 

Davis M, (2007)  'Planet of Slums.' London:Verso.

Boyle D, Tandan L. (2008) 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Fox Searchlight Pictures.