Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the ways local concepts of responsibility and assistance in Maputo disrupt one directional narratives of development and care in the Global South.

Paper long abstract:

Development researchers have long believed that developed states use their power to provide Aid or other forms of external assistance such as private philanthropy, assistance of Non-Governmental Organisations, and other financing to developing nations to achieve global economic and political stability. Development scholars (including geographers) have largely attributed this to a sense of responsibility. Many have assumed this assistance to travel in one direction, i.e. from Global North to Global South, thus overlooking modalities of care and hospitality among individuals within countries of the Global South. In this paper, I posit that looking at everyday modes of assistance at the urban community level would challenge scholars to re-think ways in which place matters in development. Analysing qualitative data gathered in two neighbourhoods in Maputo, Mozambique, this study is an investigation of proximity. I argue that closeness of people in community relationships matters in three ways: (i) the everyday practices of assistance in these communities are modes of resistance to an oppressive state; (ii) forms of assistance serve as expressions of local (as opposed to national) identity; and (iii) religious institutions play a significant role in fostering public discourse, rather than motivating assistance. In speaking more specifically about how proximity matters, this study contributes to the growing realisation that development must come from within.