TY - JOUR
T1 - On Watching Shoes Being Made in Addis Ababa
AU - Fourie, Elsje
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Anthropology and Humanism© 2022 The Authors. Anthropology and Humanism published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Anthropological Association.
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - In this work of creative nonfiction, I use a visit to an Ethiopian shoe factory, where I observed the application of Japanese methods of productivity, as a lens to reflect on the ambiguities, inconsistencies, and ethical dilemmas thrown up both by such fieldwork and the larger project of promoting industrialization in Ethiopia. The reader is introduced to the cast of characters present that day and invited to follow many of them into settings beyond the factory floor. In listening to this polyphony of voices and trying to shape them into something legible in my writing, I find a parallel in the efforts of my academic field—development studies—to formulate interventions and policy prescriptions in the face of incomplete and conflicting information. The result is a cautious step towards hope and optimism and away from paralysis and despair: perhaps we can do no more than stitch together the collected parts and offer them for others to try on, but perhaps this is enough. This reflection can be read as a companion piece to my full-length research article on the subject (Fourie 2020). [fieldwork, ethnography, Ethiopia, development studies, creative nonfiction].
AB - In this work of creative nonfiction, I use a visit to an Ethiopian shoe factory, where I observed the application of Japanese methods of productivity, as a lens to reflect on the ambiguities, inconsistencies, and ethical dilemmas thrown up both by such fieldwork and the larger project of promoting industrialization in Ethiopia. The reader is introduced to the cast of characters present that day and invited to follow many of them into settings beyond the factory floor. In listening to this polyphony of voices and trying to shape them into something legible in my writing, I find a parallel in the efforts of my academic field—development studies—to formulate interventions and policy prescriptions in the face of incomplete and conflicting information. The result is a cautious step towards hope and optimism and away from paralysis and despair: perhaps we can do no more than stitch together the collected parts and offer them for others to try on, but perhaps this is enough. This reflection can be read as a companion piece to my full-length research article on the subject (Fourie 2020). [fieldwork, ethnography, Ethiopia, development studies, creative nonfiction].
U2 - 10.1111/anhu.12414
DO - 10.1111/anhu.12414
M3 - Article
SN - 0193-5615
VL - 48
SP - 77
EP - 82
JO - Anthropology and Humanism
JF - Anthropology and Humanism
ER -