Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa: An Introduction

   1. Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa: An Introduction

      • Elizabeth Cooper, David Pratten

      Pages 1-16

3. Social Contingencies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

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   2. Contingency: Interpersonal and Historical Dependencies in HIV Care

      • Susan Reynolds Whyte, Godfrey Etyang Siu

      Pages 19-35

   3. Charity and Chance: The Manufacture of Uncertainty and Mistrust through Child Sponsorship in Kenya

      • Elizabeth Cooper

      Pages 36-58

   4. The Quest for Trust in the Face of Uncertainty: Managing Pregnancy Outcomes in Zanzibar

      • Nadine Beckmann

      Pages 59-83

   5. Food Security, Conjugal Conflict, and Uncertainty in ‘Bangladesh’, Mombasa, Kenya

      • Adam Gilbertson

      Pages 84-108

4. Future Visions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109

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   2. Social Invisibility and Political Opacity: On Perceptiveness and Apprehension in Bissau

      • Henrik Vigh

      Pages 111-128

   3. Rhythms of Uncertainty and the Pleasures of Anticipation

      • Julie Soleil Archambault

      Pages 129-148

   4. Embracing Uncertainty: Young People on the Move in Addis Ababa’s Inner City

      • Marco Di Nunzio

      Pages 149-172

   5. ‘We Wait for Miracles’: Ideas of Hope and Future among Clandestine Burundian Refugees in Nairobi

      • Simon Turner

      Pages 173-191

5. Back Matter

   Pages 193-198

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This collection explores the productive potential of uncertainty for people living in Africa as well as for scholars of Africa. Eight ethnographic case studies from across the continent examine how uncertainty is used to negotiate insecurity, create and conduct relationships, and act as a source for imagining the future.

• Africa
• uncertainty
• anthropology
• hope
• insecurity
• risk
• contingency
• fortune
• chance
• trust
• youth
• social relations
• social change
• crisis as context
• social navigation
• the future
• child
• conflict
• ethnography
• pregnancy
• development aid

“The book Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa edited by Cooper and Pratten focuses specifically on one phenomenon that has been largely overlooked in development studies: uncertainty. … the book presents detailed ethnographies of people’s experiences of coping with uncertainty in their everyday life. … the book is relevant for readers involved in development practice and development studies, as well as for practitioners and academics concerned with change processes more generally.” (Aleid Groenewoudt, Progress in Development Studies, Vol. 18 (4), 2018)​

• Simon Fraser University, Canada

  Elizabeth Cooper

• Oxford University, UK

  David Pratten

Julie Soleil Archambaultl, Oxford University, UK Nadine Beckmann, University of Roehampton, UK Elizabeth Cooper, Simon Fraser University, Canada Godfrey Etyang Siu, Makerere University, Uganda Adam Gilbertson, Oxford University, UK Marco Di Nunzio, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium David Pratten, Oxford University, UK Susan Reynolds Whyte, Copenhagen University, Denmark Simon Turner, Aalborg University, Denmark Henrik Vigh, Copenhagen University, Denmark ?

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