Social Justice and the City : some observations from ‘the periphery’

This commentary seeks to explain the indifferent reaction to Social Justice and The City (SJTC) among the radical/Marxist denizens of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) campus in the mid-1970s. It explores what was considered useful about the book, but also why, in part because of its European and North American focus and emphasis upon the revolutionary potential of the city rather than the countryside, it arguably did not resonate as much as it might have done. When later rethinking the contribution made by SJTC, Harvey himself offers important reformulations reflecting something of the kinds of radical/Marxist ideas already present in earlier years on the UDSM campus.