TY - JOUR

T1 - Trans-temporal hinges

T2 - Reflections on a comparative ethnographic study of Chinese infrastructural projects in Mozambique and Mongolia

AU - Pedersen, Morten Axel

AU - Nielsen, Morten

PY - 2013/6/21

Y1 - 2013/6/21

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - China

KW - Economy of distance

KW - Infrastructure

KW - Mongolia

KW - Mozambique

KW - Time

KW - Trans-temporal hinge

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84879055584&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3167/sa.2013.570109

DO - 10.3167/sa.2013.570109

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84879055584

VL - 57

SP - 122

EP - 142

JO - Social Analysis

JF - Social Analysis

SN - 0155-977X

IS - 1

ER -