BENIT-GBAFFOU Claire

Contact details

Profile picture

claire.benit-gbaffou@sciencespo-aix.fr

Functions

Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, Department of Geography and Town Planning, Aix Marseille University

Academic work

Former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure Ulm-Sèvres

Professor of Geography

Doctorate in Geography

Areas of research

General field: Urban politics

Research sectors: City government

Local and participatory democracy

Institutional activism

Urban public spaces

Street trading

Parks and urban gardens

Doctoral supervision

Within the Geography and Urban Planning Department, Aix Marseille University: Introduction to Geopolitics, Urban Planning and Projects, Geography Workshop (undergraduate); Methodology and Epistemology of Geography (Masters)

At Sciences Po Aix, International Competition between Cities and Territories (Master 1), Local Decentralisation (Master 2).

Scientific coordinator, programme manager

2014-2018 Director of the Practices of the State in Urban Governance (PSUG) research programme, South African National Research Foundation (SA NRF). At the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, CUBES (Center for Urbanism and the Built Environment Studies) research laboratory. Website

2015-2019 Project co-sponsor, with Dr Glyn Williams (Planning and Development Studies, Sheffield University), Developing Research Capacity for Inclusive Urban Governance: a Sheffield-Witwatersrand PhD training partnership, ESRC & NRF (British Economic and Social Research Council & South African National Research Foundation). Exchange on doctoral pedagogy, involving 6 research professors and around twenty doctoral students from the two universities.

2010-2012 Director of Yeoville Studio: a community-oriented research initiative, 2010-2012, CUBES & School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University. Committed research and multidisciplinary teaching programme in partnership with civil society organisations in Johannesburg. Awarded the Wits Transformation Team Award, 2012. Website

2008-2013 Co-director of the research project (with Prof Alan Mabin, Wits University) The voice of the poor in urban governance. Participation, mobilization and politics in South African cities, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), CORUS programme. School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and CUBES laboratory, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Around ten research professors and doctoral students.

2006-2007 Co-directed research project with Dr Christine Fauvelle-Aymar (demographer). The place of local democracy in a democratizing country: decentralization, local councilors and civil society in post-apartheid Johannesburg and Cape Town. CUBES (Wits University) & IFAS (French Institute of South Africa). Transversal programme for IFREs (Instituts Français de l'Etranger): Democratisation in emerging Countries: Africa, Asia, Latin America.

Productions

Editing of books and journal issues
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Charlton S, Didier S, & Dörmann K (eds), (2019) The Politics of Community-Based Research - Perspectives from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg, Johannesburg: Wits Press University Press.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Charlton S (eds), 2018. Special issue: "Informal Practices of the State in the Governance of Cities. A view from Southern Africa". Journal of Development Studies, 54(12).
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (ed), 2015, Popular Politics in South African Cities - Unpacking Community Participation. Pretoria: HSRC Press.
- Gervais-Lambony P, Bénit-Gbaffou C, Musset A, Piermay JL, & Planel S (eds), 2014, La justice spatiale et la ville, regards du Sud. Paris: Editions Karthala.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Piper L (eds), (2012). Special issue: Party Politics, the Poor and the City. Geoforum, 43(2).
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Didier S, Peyroux E (eds) (2012), Symposium: Circulation of security models in Southern African cities: between neoliberal encroachment and local power dynamics. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(5).
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Oldfield S (eds) (2011). Special Issue: Accessing the State: Everyday Practices and Politics in Cities of the Global South. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 46(5).
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Fabiyi S & Peyroux E (eds) (2009), Sécurisation des quartiers et gouvernance locale: enjeux et défis dans les villes africaines. Paris: Karthala-IFAS.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (ed) (2008), Special issue: Local Government in South Africa, Transformation: critical perspectives on Southern Africa, 66-67.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Gervais-Lambony P (eds) (2008), Special issue: Forms of local democracy in South African cities, Revue Tiers Monde, 196.

Main articles in scientific journals (since 2008)
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2018), Understanding states practices in city-making, in conversations with Ananya Roy. Journal of Development Studies, 54(12), 2139-2148.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2018), Beyond the Policy-Implementation Gap: How the City of Johannesburg Manufactured the Ungovernability of Street Trading. Journal of Development Studies, 54(12), 2149-2167.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2018), Governing Street Trading in Contemporary Cities. Anatomy of the Policy Instruments Used by the City of Johannesburg in the Post-Apartheid Era. Urban Practice and Research, 11(4), 396-425.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2018), Why is co-management of parks not working in Johannesburg? The difficult reframing of state mandates and practices in the post-apartheid era. International Development Policy, 10, 101-136.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Tadié J (2016). In search of local leaders in Jakarta: a cross-section from Johannesburg. Espace Politique, 30(3).
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2016), Do street traders have the "right to the City"? The politics of street trader organizations in inner city Johannesburg, post Operation Clean Sweep. Third World Quarterly, 37(6): 1102-1129.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Katsaura O (2014). Community leaders and the construction of political legitimacy. Unpacking Bourdieu's political capital in post-apartheid Johannesburg. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 38(5), 1807-1832.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2012), Party politics, civil society and local democracy - Reflections from Johannesburg. Geoforum, 43(2), pp. 178-189.
- Matlala B & Bénit-Gbaffou (2012), "Against ourselves - local activists and the management of contradictory political loyalties: the case of Phiri, Johannesburg", Geoforum, 43(2), 207-218.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Mkwanazi E (2012), Expressions of xenophobia in public meetings and the construction of a neighbourhood identity - the role of local leaders (Yeoville, Johannesburg)Politique Africaine, 127, pp. 109-134.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Didier S, Peyroux E (2012), "Circulation of security models in Southern African cities: between neoliberal encroachment and local power dynamics", in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(5), 877-889.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, Fourchard L, & Wafer A (2012), Circulation of security local initiatives in space and time: the case of Johannesburg. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(5), 936-957.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2011), 'Up close and personal' - How does local democracy help the poor access the state? Stories of accountability and clientelism in Johannesburg. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 46(5), 453-464.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Oldfield S (2011), Accessing the State: Everyday Practices and Politics in Cities of the South. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 46(5), 445-452.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2010), The researcher as a ball in a political game. Carnets de Géographes, 1, October.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2008) Unbundling security services in Johannesburg- are the security systems 'fragmented' ? Geoforum, special issue on "Placing Splintering Urbanism", 39(6), 1933-1950.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2008), Community policing and disputed norms for local social control in post-apartheid Johannesburg. Journal of Southern Africa Studies, 34(1), 83-110.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2008), Local Government in South Africa: an introduction to the special issue, Transformation: critical perspectives on Southern Africa, 66-67, i-vii.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2008), "Practices of local participation in Johannesburg - side-lining the institutional participatory channels?", Transformation: critical perspectives on Southern Africa, 66-67, 1-34.

Main contributions to collective works
- Bénit-Gbaffou (2019) Introducing the book - why tell the story of Yeoville Studio? In Bénit-Gbaffou C et al (ed), The Politics of Community-Based Research -Perspectives from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg, Johannesburg: Wits Press University Press: 3-10.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2019) Exploring the politics of community-engaged research. In Bénit-Gbaffou C et al (ed), The Politics of Community-Based Research -Perspectives from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg, Johannesburg: Wits Press University Press: 19-42.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2019) Politicising: Community-based research and the politics of knowledge, introduction to section D. In Bénit-Gbaffou C et al (ed), The Politics of Community-Based Research -Perspectives from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg, Johannesburg: Wits Press University Press: 279-282.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Gaule S (2019), Street photography and the politics of representation: A portrait of Muller Street. In Bénit-Gbaffou C et al (ed), Politicising Community-Oriented Research -Lessons from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg. Johannesburg: Wits Press University Press: 315-330.
- Mkhabela S, Bénit-Gbaffou C, Dörmann K (2019), Knowledge construction in a multi-disciplinary perspective: Portraying Natal-Saunders Street, In Bénit-Gbaffou C et al (ed), The Politics of Community-Based Research -Perspectives from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg, Johannesburg: Wits Press University Press: 331-346.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2019), Knowledge production and the politics of community engagement. Working with informal traders in Yeoville and beyond. In Bénit-Gbaffou C et al (ed), Politicising Community-Oriented Research -Lessons from Yeoville Studio, Johannesburg. Johannesburg: Wits Press University Press: 381-400.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2015), Introduction : Politicising and Politicking community participation in urban governance. In Claire Bénit-Gbaffou (ed), Popular Politics in South African Cities - Unpacking Community Participation. Pretoria: HSRC Press, 1-20.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2014), "Are Johannesburg peri-central neighbourhoods irrevocably 'fluid'? The local governance of diversity, mobility and competition in Yeoville & Bertrams".In Harrison P, Gotz G, Todes A, Wray C (eds), Changing Space, Changing City: Johannesburg after Apartheid. Johannesburg: Wits Press, 252-268.
- Piper L & Bénit-Gbaffou C (2014), Mediation and the Contradictions of Representing the Urban Poor in South Africa: the case of SANCO leaders in Imizamo Yethu in Cape Town, South Africa, in Van Lieres B & Piper L(eds), Mediated Citizenship. The Informal Politics of Speaking for Citizens in the Global South. Palgrave MacMillan, 25-42.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Oldfield S (2014), Claiming 'rights' in the African City: Popular Mobilisation and the Politics of Informality in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nairobi, Casablanca'. In Parnell, S. and Oldfield, S. (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Cities of the Global South. Routledge, London, 281-295.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2014), Expressions of justice and injustice, and forms of urban mobilisation. In Gervais-Lambony P. et al (Eds), La justice spatiale et la ville : regards du Sud, Paris: Editions Karthala, 167-171.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, with Gervais-Lambony P, Ginisty K, Owuor S (2014), Everyday resistance to injustice in the city. Local social control, political opportunities and ways of expressing feelings of injustice in urban public spacein Gervais-Lambony P. et al (eds), La justice spatiale et la ville : regards du Sud, Paris: Editions Karthala, 207-226.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C & Oldfield S, with Belarbi W, Iraki A, Owuor S(2014), Urban social movements and spatial injustice. The difficult mobilisation of "rightsin Gervais-Lambony P. et al (Eds), La justice spatiale et la ville : regards du Sud, Paris: Editions Karthala, 227-244.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2013), Spatial Justice and the Poor's Access to Urban Resources in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg. Redistributive Policies, Participatory Democracy and Clientelist Practices in Urban Governance, in Dufaux F & Philifert P (eds), Justice spatiale et politiques territoriales, Collection Espace et Justice, Nanterre: Presses Universitaires de Paris Ouest, 187-202.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C, with Dubresson A, Fourchard L, Ginisty K, Jaglin S, Olukoju A, Owuor S, & Vivet J (2013), Exploring the role of political parties in the governance of African Citiesin Fourchard L, Bekker S, (eds), Governing cities in Africa: Politics and Policies, Cape Town: HSRC Press, 17-41.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2011), Yeoville Studio: Negotiating the line between Research and Activismin Edjabe N & Pieterse E (eds), The African Cities Reader II: Mobilities and Fixtures, Cape Town: Chimurenga, pp. 196-201.

Main research reports
- Guénégo L, Cordier L, Arnoux L, Bénit-Gbaffou C, 2020. In search of barbecues in the Parc de Corbière in Marseille. Discours d'acteurs sur une pratique populaire interdite. Research report based on the 3rd year Geography Workshop, Aix Marseille Université.
- Battista E, Bava E, Bénit-Gbaffou C, 2020. Les routes Montées des Usines aux Riaux : enjeux d'espace public et actions du CIQ. Research report based on the 3rd year Geography Workshop, Aix Marseille University.
- Martel G, Frolich D, Sanchez T & Bénit-Gbaffou C (2019), La médiation sociale au coeur des espaces publics estaquéens. Visions de médiateurs sur les plages de Corbières et l'Espace Mistral, Marseille. Research report based on the 3rd year Geography Workshop, Aix Marseille Université.
- Bouffié A, Bruno JB, Gandrille L, Kouamé M, Perroux S, Poli C, Réalini C & Bénit-Gbaffou C (2019), Portraits d'Hébergeurs Solidaires à Marseille. Research report based on a Master 2 class in Geography: Ville Inclusive, vol.1, Geography, Aix Marseille Université.
- Ratau F, Phakati L, Masilo O & Bénit-Gbaffou C (2017). The Joint management of urban parks in Johannesburg. The case of James and Ethel Gray Park. Research report based on a 3rd year Urban Planning and Policy Studies workshop. Johannesburg: CUBES, Wits University.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2015). In quest for sustainable street trading management. Lessons for Johannesburg post Operation Clean Sweep. Research report, Johannesburg: CUBES & Wits University.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (2015). The management of parks and nature reserves in Johannesburg - exploring partnerships between communities and City Parks The cases of Golden Harvest, James and Ethel Gray, Mshenguville Parks & Melville Koppies, Klipriviersberg Nature Reserves. Report for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, CUBES series: Exploring Participatory Approaches to Johannesburg Parks Management. Johannesburg: CUBES, Wits University.
- Bosaka P & Bénit-Gbaffou C (2015). What Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo officials think... when they engage with park users committees. Report for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, CUBES series: Exploring Participatory Approaches to Johannesburg Parks Management. Johannesburg : CUBES, Wits University.
- Hadebe S & Bénit-Gbaffou C (2015). Learning from park users' committees (or Friends of the Park) in the township and in the suburbs: The cases of Thokoza Park and Zoo Lake, Johannesburg. Report and leaflet produced for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo. Report for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, CUBES series: Exploring Participatory Approaches to Johannesburg Parks Management. Johannesburg : CUBES, Wits University.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (ed) (2014). A Political Landscape of Street trader organisations in inner city Johannesburg, post Operation Clean Sweep. Research report based on a 3rd year Urban Planning and Policy Studies workshop. Johannesburg: CUBES, Wits University.
- Bénit-Gbaffou C (ed) (2013). Community activists tell their stories: Driving change in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni. Research report based on a Masters Workshop in Urban Studies. Johannesburg: CUBES, Wits University.