On and off for the past 18 months, Thorsten and I have been working on an academic/artistic project called the Atlas of Uncertainty, documenting lives and spaces in three different parts of Joburg: Katlehong, Berea, and Diepsloot. Atlas is a huge project, involving lots of artists and researchers from all over Africa, and the work Thorsten and I did is a very small part of the overall effort. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the Atlas of Uncertainty in the future, but for now I just want to share one photo from Diepsloot.
A fruit and vegetable hawker on Amsterdam Street in Diepsloot.
Diepsloot is an enormous settlement in Joburg’s far northern suburbs. It started out as an informal settlement in the 1990s, and it has now become an established community of well over 100,000 people. I’ve blogged about Diepsloot before, most recently in 2018.
One of my favorite sounds is that of a fruit-and-vegetable hawker pushing a trolley full of produce up and down the streets in a Joburg township, honking a small, hand-held horn to advertise his merchandise. I have only heard these horns, which are delightfully chirpy and remind me of clowns, in Jozi townships like Katlehong, Diepsloot, and Soweto.
I have no idea if this phenomenon is a thing in other cities or countries (it probably is), but to me it’s a sound of Joburg. I’d been trying to get a photo of one of these fruit-and-veg hawkers for years, but they always managed to zip past before I had time to raise my camera. On this particular day several months ago, late in the afternoon on Amsterdam Street in Diepsloot, I finally got my chance.
I started the Joburg Photo of the Week Series last week. You can read all of my Joburg Photo of the Week posts (all two of them, at this point) here.
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Nice photo, though the young man looks rather worried…..
And, I don’t want to be snippy but:
Katlehong is a large township in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. It is 28 km south-east of Johannesburg and south of Germiston between two other townships of Thokoza and Vosloorus next to the N3 highway….
So not in any sense Joburg / Jozi.
Hmm, I don’t agree with that. Most of the people I’ve met in Diepsloot identify as being from Joburg (in the same way that people living in Dainfern, which is right next door, also do) – and a huge percentage of them commute to inner Joburg for work. Joburg agencies, like the JDA, for example, have projects there. I think Diepsloot is just as much part of the greater Joburg area as Tembisa, Alberton, Benoni, Katlehong or Krugersdorp. (Plus we were specifically hired to go there as part of a research project about Joburg.)
Sorry, I just realized misread your comment and confused Diepsloot with Katlehong. But I think the same points still apply — the greater Joburg area is huge and sprawling and encompasses a lot of places, at least in a figurative sense.
It is here in Cambodia, for sure. (Oh and Thailand) They don’t use trolleys or shopping carts, but they have their own handmade carts and they honk their ‘clown’ horn. There are even those who have fruit in the back of a pickup truck with a loud speaker repeating the message. I find them annoying. 😱 The noise pollution drives me batty, I’m not going to lie. Maybe if I lived someplace where those noises weren’t prevalent or if they were relegated to a particular area, I’d find it less invasive. But there you have it. This expat is saying something negative! Oh no!
But your project looks exciting. You’re so good about getting involved with the community and being super creative and supportive, Heather! I don’t know how you make the time for everything! 🙏🙂🤯
Haha, I can imagine how all those different sounds at once could be very annoying. We definitely have far fewer noises here in Southern African than you do in Asia!