Mobile bodies of meaning: city life and the horizons of possibility

Abstract

ABSTRACTDespite their centrality to the rhythm and practice of everyday urban life, there are, surprisingly, few studies on commercial minibus-taxis as a microcosm of city life in Africa, especially its precarious materiality. Using the trademark yellow minibus-taxis (danfos) in Lagos as a frame of reference, this paper explores what an interpretative analysis of the slogans thatdanfoworkers paint on their vehicles can tell us about the city in which they weave their routine existence, especially the hopes, fears and actual material circumstances which informed their unique choice of slogans. Foregrounding thedanfosas mobile bodies of meaning, the article finds that slogans not only reflect the lived realities ofdanfoworkers, but are themselves vital means through which these workers get by, define their identity and expand their horizons of possibility.