eBook - PDF
Expectations of Modernity
Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt
- 343 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
About this book
Once lauded as the wave of the African future, Zambia's economic boom in the 1960s and early 1970s was fueled by the export of copper and other primary materials. Since the mid-1970s, however, the urban economy has rapidly deteriorated, leaving workers scrambling to get by. Expectations of Modernity explores the social and cultural responses to this prolonged period of sharp economic decline. Focusing on the experiences of mineworkers in the Copperbelt region, James Ferguson traces the failure of standard narratives of urbanization and social change to make sense of the Copperbelt's recent history. He instead develops alternative analytic tools appropriate for an "ethnography of decline."
Ferguson shows how the Zambian copper workers understand their own experience of social, cultural, and economic "advance" and "decline." Ferguson's ethnographic study transports us into their lives—the dynamics of their relations with family and friends, as well as copper companies and government agencies.
Theoretically sophisticated and vividly written, Expectations of Modernity will appeal not only to those interested in Africa today, but to anyone contemplating the illusory successes of today's globalizing economy.
Ferguson shows how the Zambian copper workers understand their own experience of social, cultural, and economic "advance" and "decline." Ferguson's ethnographic study transports us into their lives—the dynamics of their relations with family and friends, as well as copper companies and government agencies.
Theoretically sophisticated and vividly written, Expectations of Modernity will appeal not only to those interested in Africa today, but to anyone contemplating the illusory successes of today's globalizing economy.
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Yes, you can access Expectations of Modernity by James Ferguson in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Sozialwissenschaften & Afrikanische Geschichte. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- List of Cases
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1: The Copperbelt in Theory: From "Emerging Africa" to the Ethnography of Decline
- Chapter 2: Expectations of Permanence: Mobile Workers, Modernist Narratives, and the "Full House" of Urban-Rural Residential S rategies
- Chapter 3: Rural Connections, Urban Styles: Theorizing Cultural Dualism
- Chapter 4: "Back to the Land"?: The Micropolitical Economy of "Return" Migration
- Chapter 5: Expectations of Domesticity: Men, Women, and "the Modern Family"
- Chapter 6: Asia in Miniature: Signification, Noise, and Cosmopolitan Style
- Chapter 7: Global Disconnect: Abjection and the Aftermath of Modernism
- Postscript: December 1998
- Appendix: Mineworkers' Letters
- Notes
- References
- Index