Abstract:
This paper investigates contemporary world city discourse, specifically in regards
to the role of arts and culture, and with a focus on the implications of this
discourse and policy in the urban African context. The historical legacies of
colonial policies and thinking are explored in order to understand the current
status of African cities within the world system. These dominant narratives are
critiqued and some alternative modes of understanding Africa within the global
context are explored. These various discourses are used to investigate the
implications in a specific context - that of the current urban regeneration project
taking place in Newtown, Johannesburg.
This paper will contextualise the language and policy relating to arts and culture
from a national government to a city level, in order to unpack some the
assumptions that underpin these policies and the impacts that this language and
policy have on the arts within a uniquely African urban context.
