Expectations of modernity

Description:

"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."--

subjects: Politics and government,  Urban anthropology,  Industrialization,  Copper mines and mining,  Urbanization,  Copper industry and trade,  Economic conditions,  Social conditions,  Zambia, politics and government,  Zambia, social conditions,  Zambia, economic conditions,  Industries, africa,  Anthropologie urbaine,  Urbanisation,  Industrialisation,  Cuivre,  Industrie,  Mines et extraction,  Conditions sociales,  Conditions économiques,  Politique et gouvernement,  SOCIAL SCIENCE,  Anthropology,  Cultural,  POLITICAL SCIENCE,  Public Policy,  Cultural Policy,  Popular Culture,  Economic history,  Anthropologie,  Ethnologie,  Industrialisierung,  Kupferindustrie,  Verstädterung,  Urbanisatie,  Industrialisatie,  Mijnwerkers,  Antropologia urbana,  Urbanização

Places: Copperbelt province,  Zambia

Times: 1964-