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Clifford Collard, Niamh Jane (2021) '“Things should be better”: immobility, labour and the negotiation of hope amongst young Ghanaian craftsmen.' Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 39 (5). pp. 810-826.

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Abstract

Drawing on an ethnography of life in a Ghanaian weaving workshop, this article traces the intersections between young rural weavers’ affective labour, hope and their experiences of immobility. Hope is explored as an ambivalent resource which shapes the shared, social materiality of their craftwork, the spiritual beliefs which give meaningful shape to the challenges of craft livelihoods and the imaginaries and lived experiences which compose young weavers’ sense of migration and mobility. Entangled in the precarious logics of late capitalism, these hopes simultaneously offer young craftsmen a sense of existential mobility, whilst curtailing and circumscribing possibilities for sustained and systemic change. In this, the ‘not-yet’ hopefulness of immobility is examined as a complex affective and political field, shot through with tense anticipation, longing and disappointment.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: craftwork, hope, immobility, labour, Ghana, uncertainty
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Department of Anthropology & Sociology
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
ISSN: 14723433
Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2021
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1177/02637758211001382
Date Deposited: 18 Feb 2021 17:01
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/34778
Funders: Other

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