This Is Ficgayo: An Explorative Account of How Possibilities Materialize in Urban Africa

Abstract:In this article, I explore how possibilities materialize in public spaces and how the potential of multiple possibilities can be studied ethnographically. Ficgayo, a multipurpose venue in the city Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, is the protagonist in this endeavor. Examining the relationship between this venue and possibilities, the article presents empirical accounts, which enable broader theoretical reflections focused on the experience of doing ethnographic research, urban practices, and temporality. Beyond notions of space and place, it suggests understanding Ficgayo as a case of materialized relationality, which emerges as a product of the researcher becoming-with Ficgayo, along with multiple practices in the now. It argues for the epistemological potential of a spatial perspective and, thus, a possible way of knowing cities in Africa beyond binary notions.