Matteo Rizzo, Senior Lecturer, Departments of Development Studies and Economics, SOAS, University of London

Matteo Rizzo is a political economist who lives and works in London, where he is a senior lecturer across the Departments of Economics and Development Studies at SOAS, University of London, UK. He previously worked at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford and at the Centre for African Studies, University of Cambridge. His work has been published by leading African studies and development studies journals, including the Journal of Development Studies, Development and Change, the Journal of Agrarian Change, African Affairs, the Journal of Modern African Studies and the Review of African Political Economy, of which he is also a member of the Editorial Working Group.

"pushing forward much-needed critical debate by helping us rethink and reimagine alternative public transport futures for African cities, futures that should start with the lived realities and aspirations of the majority of citizens, including the poor and middle classes, who currently - for better or worse - rely fundamentally on these deeply rooted and complex minibus systems." -- Jacqueline M. Klopp, Africa

"One of the more impressive aspects of this book is that it manages to situate the opening up of transport in Dar es Salaam in two ways: 1) as part of the broader global ascent of neoliberalism, and 2) as part of the more specific political economy of Tanzania." -- Martin Walsh, Tanzanian Affairs

"...the book is definitely a stimulating account of informal public transport provisions in a Southern city, helping its readers to unpack conventional understandings of both public transport and informality." -- Gaurav Mittal, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography

"To appreciate Rizzo's Taken for a Ride one must first understand what he has done methodologically. Rizzo embeds public transport in urban Tanzania in a series of relationships with other elements of Tanzanian politics, economics and society. We find that public transport has to be understood in its connection with Tanzania's socialist policies of the 1960s, but also to the IMFs structural adjustment policies of the 1980s. We get the views of politicians as well as of drivers and the passengers. Each element is animated and rendered a part of a larger whole so that by the end of it all we get the picture of a living history of urban Tanzania, with its highs, lows, and many contradictions. The research is astonishing in its range, the writing vivid and clear, and the end result is an insightful and superb contribution to African and Global South urban studies." --Ato Quayson, New York University, author of Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism

"Taken for a Ride is an exciting and innovative contribution to the emerging field of African labour studies. Through substantial field work and a sophisticated critique of market fundamentalism and post colonial theory, Matteo Rizzo brings vividly to life the struggles of public transport workers in the sprawling African coastal city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Carefully avoiding both a romantic optimism and a bland structural pessimism, the author shows how a shared notion of exploitation was constructed amongst the divided transport workers and a new trade union controlled by informal workers was born." --Edward Webster, Professor Emeritus, University of Witwatersrand

"In Matteo Rizzo's remarkable book the reader takes a seat for a unique 'journey through the history, economic organisation, and politics of public transport' in the vibrant city of Dar es SalaamEL It is highly recommended to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of economic relations, labour, politics, and power in the local transport sector (and beyond)." -- Daniel Ehebrecht and Alina Oswald, The Journal of Development Studies