Ethnicity, work and localism: Narratives of difference in London and Kampala

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Abstract
The value of ethnicity varies with context. Whether and for whom it is a resource, a liability, or without salience of any kind depends on the options of a particular environment, and other‐things‐happening within it. By this reasoning, the simple fact of an ethnically mixed population is not predictive of whether or how ethnicity counts in the business of livelihood. This article argues that different kinds of urban system are more or less amenable to the ethnic option, and explores the extent to which localism and/or work may override or underwrite its effect. It reports the comparison of two inner London areas with similarly mixed populations but very different economic structures, and an ideal type model in which they are contrasted. In one type of system, ethnicity is consistently maximized/used/useful; in the other, localism is the lead principle. Analysis shows that different opportunities and constraints on work make the significant difference between them. The same model applied to a Kampala parish reveals an urban system which is neither ‘ethnic’ nor ‘localist’ in the London sense, yet confirms the systematic interrelation of ethnicity, work and localism. In the Kampala case the crucial difference is between men and women ‐ in respect of their involvement in the local area, and the possibilities for making a living which it offers.

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