Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how the economic character of inflation makes it a safe 'apolitical' tool by which local middle-class and foreign residents in Kigali, Rwanda can comfortably comment and share frustrations on government effectiveness, growing inequality and delayed transitions towards adulthood.

Paper long abstract:

‘In Kigali, life is expensive’ was a ubiquitous phrase encountered during my 15 months of fieldwork exploring the tech ecosystem in Rwanda. Official government figures indicate the price of food staples has increased by 35%, but residents estimate it to be much higher. This paper builds on Amri’s (2023) argument that ‘inflation-talk’, disguised as small talk, provides a discursive space to express political and economic disillusion. In Rwanda, discussing politics is fraught with unease. Yet discussions of inflation in Kigali can be part of the everyday because of its outward apolitical nature and indefinite causes. This paper showcases how inflation, couched in economic terms, is a shared instrument through which individuals across social classes comfortably voice frustrations and measure government effectiveness.

This paper further explores how rising inflation in Kigali was experienced among a range of local and foreign workers and their critiques around who gets left behind in this moment of accelerated change. Beyond political discourse, the tangible and felt effects of inflation on households (Hernandez & Luzzi 2023) were part of a longer commentary on Kigali’s push to become a technological hub and the ‘price’ of being ‘modern’. Talk on inflation and the cost of living provided a space in which commentary on class, economic disparities between successful entrepreneurs and those who struggle, global and local inequalities (including gender), purchasing power and moral judgments on wealth (Lazarus 2023) was made both understandable and permissible – and why it was becoming ‘too expensive to adult’.