The Social Production of Deviance and Criminality Through Homes, Places, and Spatial Contexts in African Societies: Toward a Relational Geography of Crime

Abstract

This paper theorized space, place and spatiality as not simply the sites where deviance and crime occur, but also as which actually construct deviant behavior and crime within African urban society, thus moving the focus of analysis away from individual pathology towards a relational geography of crime. The analysis examines cases of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya and argues that crime is not just simply an expression of individual maladjustment, but a direct result of spatial interaction and practices which are often realized in sites of historic marginality. In particular, it posits that combining spatial criminological concepts such as defensible space, routine activity and crime pattern theory with Lefebvre's notion of the social production of space highlights how colonial and post-colonial urban design, the construction of informal settlements, and post-colonial state deficit actually construct criminogenic space.