Shackdweller is a South African English term for a person who lives in an informal settlement shack — typically a home constructed from corrugated iron, timber, or other salvaged materials in a township or peri-urban area. The word is used both descriptively and politically: in activist and housing rights contexts it has been reclaimed as a term of dignity, most notably by the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shackdwellers' movement), which has become a powerful advocacy force in South Africa's ongoing housing crisis.
The documentary followed shackdwellers in Cape Town who had been waiting for formal housing allocation for over a decade.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(South Africa) A person who lives in a shack.
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