Life in a slum neighborhood of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: morphological facts and their dysfunctions

Objectives: (1) To explore morphological facts that typically characterize life in Setegn Meda slum neighborhood. (2) To identify dysfunctions of those morphological facts. (3) To discuss some of the differences and similarities between the study area and other forms of a slum in Addis Ababa as outlined by Alemayehu (2008) based on selected morphological facts. Methods: The study adopted a qualitative case study research design rooted in a pragmatic constructivist approach to a case study. Information was gathered through semi-structured interviews and field observation, and then analyzed using a deductive thematic analysis technique. Results and conclusion: This study found that the morphological facts that typically characterize life in Setegn Meda slum neighborhood are: Dilapidated Housing; Limited Access to Infrastructure; Congested Settlement; Positionality; and Being a Slum as a relational Construct. This study also found that these morphological facts have their inherent dysfunctions: Physical Health Risk; Psychological Distress; Economic Cost; and Social Cost. Results further show that the dysfunctions of some morphological facts have a gender dimension where women suffer more. The difference and similarities between the study area and other forms of a slum in Addis Ababa as outlined by Alemayehu (2008) were discussed based on selected morphological facts. The discussion suggests that let alone the homogeneity of slums at the global level, slums are rather heterogamous even at a national/local level. The discussion has also highlighted that the classification of slums in Addis Ababa as proposed by Alemayehu (2008) for one thing is not exhaustive and needs some modifications.