Trans-temporal Hinges

Reflections on an Ethnographic Study of Chinese Infrastructural Projects in Mozambique and Mongolia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID18965396
AutoresM A Pedersen (0000-0002-2850-8661, Department of Social Sciences, autor correspondente), Morten Nielsen (0000-0002-8483-164X)
Ano2013
Volume57
Fascículo1
Data de publicação2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial Analysis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0155-977X • E-ISSN: 1558-5727
EditoraBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/sa.2013.570109
OpenAlexW2332125042
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas24
Referências citadas16

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

Archaeology · Cartography · Context (archaeology) · Economic geography · Ethnography · Geography · Hinge · Political science · Scale (ratio) · Sociology · Temporalities · African Studies and Ethnography · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Engineering · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Law