Harnessing social networks in Khartoum’s informal tea places: The case of Mayo internally displaced persons camp

Abstract

<p>This thesis examines the social qualities of informal tea places in Khartoum, Sudan, and intends to situate them within Oldenburg’s third place theory. Informal tea places are studied as a spatial phenomenon that illustrates the social, political, economic, and environmental effects of rapid population increase in Khartoum due to forced displacement. Public third places serve as a venue for strengthening and broadening social networks and improving social cohesion. Social networks based on ethnicity, friendship, and kinship are linked to progressing informality. The bridging and bonding social capital that arises from strengthened and broadened social relations can be harnessed and applied through participatory development approaches to aid slum-upgrading initiatives in Khartoum. Asset-based community development is explored as a participatory development approach that requires high bonding and bridging capital to address issues at Mayo, an internally displaced people camp in Khartoum. The social bridging qualities of informal tea places are explored in various locations in Iowa to understand how these places can bring people together. This experiment resulted in facilitation, engagement, and learning spatial ethnographic methods to document the effects of informal tea places in Iowa.</p>