Abstract
Based on two case studies of Chinese infrastructural interventions in Mozambique and in Mongolia, this article introduces the notion of 'trans-temporal hinge' as a heuristic methodological concept that brings together phenomena and events otherwise distributed across time. The authors explore envelopes used when paying Mozambican workers at a construction site in Maputo and roads dividing Chinese oil workers and local nomads in southern and eastern Mongolia as concrete manifestations of trans-temporal hinges. In exploring the temporal properties of these phenomena, we define the trans-temporal hinge as a gathering point in which different temporalities are momentarily assembled. As an analytical scale derived from a specific ethnographic context, we argue that the trans-temporal hinge provides a novel and, quite literally, timely conceptual invention compared with other recent methods of anthropological knowledge production, such as multi-sited fieldwork.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Tidsskrift | Social Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology |
| Vol/bind | 57 |
| Udgave nummer | 1 |
| Sider (fra-til) | 122-142 |
| Antal sider | 21 |
| ISSN | 0155-977X |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 21 jun. 2013 |