BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.6.1//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news450@ethnologie.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260923T123200 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260930T161500 SUMMARY:The Weight of Waiting: Aluminum Pans\, Contemporary Coloniality and Porter Labor in Ghana DESCRIPTION:AbstractThis presentation examines aluminum pans as a prostheti c of infrastructure and intimacy in Ghana’s market landscapes. Drawing o n research from her recently published book\, Headstrong: Women Porters\, Blackness\, and Modernity in Accra\, Bowles explains how porter work is g overned by feminized regimes of obligation\, patience\, and care. Centerin g the everyday use of aluminum pans and the scientific history of aluminum \, this lecture traces how an ordinary object can mediate power relationsh ips between traders and the state\, facilitate modes of protection and mut uality among workers\, and re-enact colonial legacies of racial capitalism and uneven accumulation. Bowles also explores how intimacy functions as e thnographic method that reveals how porter work is a prototype of the glob al gig economy that animates the racial logics of coloniality and the impr ovisational strategies of precarious workers.\\r\\nBioLaurian Bowles is As sociate Professor of Anthropology at the Davidson College. She is a cultur al and visual anthropologist who researches\, writes and teaches about soc ial mobility and the visual economies of women’s labor in Ghana and the African Diaspora. X-ALT-DESC:

Abstract
This presentation examines aluminum p ans as a prosthetic of infrastructure and intimacy in Ghana’s market lan dscapes. Drawing on research from her recently published book\, \;Headstrong: Women Porters\, Blackness\, and Modernity in Accra\, Bowles explains how porter work is governed by feminized regimes of oblig ation\, patience\, and care. Centering the everyday use of aluminum pans a nd the scientific history of aluminum\, this lecture traces how an ordinar y object can mediate power relationships between traders and the state\, f acilitate modes of protection and mutuality among workers\, and re-enact c olonial legacies of racial capitalism and uneven accumulation. Bowles also explores how intimacy functions as ethnographic method that reveals how p orter work is a prototype of the global gig economy that animates the raci al logics of coloniality and the improvisational strategies of precarious workers.

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Bio
Laurian Bowles is Associate Pro fessor of Anthropology at the Davidson College. She is a cultural and visu al anthropologist who researches\, writes and teaches about social mobilit y and the visual economies of women’s labor in Ghana and the African Dia spora.

DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260930T180000 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR