Lagos: Supernatural City
Tim Cocks
This is a frantic, mystical journey through Africa's biggest metropolis: Lagos. Going beyond the popular images of mad traffic or crowded slums, we learn of the incredible feats Lagosians pull off to survive their broken-down city, and the secret enabling them to cope with the chaos and precarity of Nigeria's most populous centre: spirituality. A female street fighter in a male-dominated mafia extortion business. Two powerful chiefs locked in a deadly feud over billion-dollar real estate. An oil tycoon who gambles her fortune on televangelists' prophecies. A rubbish scavenger dreaming of a reggae career. A fisherman's son trying to save Makoko, the 'floating slum', from demolition. A priestess to a river goddess selling sand to feed Lagos's construction boom. Belief in unseen forces unites these figures, as does their commitment to worshipping them--at shrines, in mosques and in churches. In this extraordinary city, Tim Cocks uncovers something universal about human nature in the face of danger and high uncertainty: our tendency to place faith in a realm beyond.
Book Details:
- Author: Tim Cocks
- Published Year: 2023
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Rights Sold
- UK: Hurst
Tim Cocks
Tim Cocks is a Reuters journalist with a nearly two decades experience covering Africa, currently based in Johannesburg. He was previously Reuters West & Central Africa bureau chief for three and a half years, based in Dakar and before that spent four years in Lagos as Nigeria bureau chief.
As a correspondent for Reuters since 2005, and a freelancer before that, he has covered two dozen African countries, including Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Kenya, Liberia, and ...
More about Tim Cocks
Book Reviews
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"A riveting romp through rubbish heaps, go-slows, mega-churches and swampy estuaries ... a testimony to the human spirit."
Daily Maverick -
"For anyone who has experienced the hot and humid charms of Nigeria’s biggest city, this book will resonate."
African Business -
"Tim Cocks draws on the central theme of spirituality that constitutes the psyche of Lagos to produce a collection of tales of men and women who call on unseen forces at a turning point in their lives."
Le Monde Diplomatique -
"The disparity of endless partying and wealth set against a backdrop of an overpopulated city struggling with fuel scarcity and high inflation is well captured in Tim Cocks’ book Lagos: Supernatural City."
Conde Naste Traveller