The world is currently experiencing a surge of investment in, and development of, large-scale infrastructural building projects, frequently captured by the term ‘megaprojects’. Distinguished by the... Show moreThe world is currently experiencing a surge of investment in, and development of, large-scale infrastructural building projects, frequently captured by the term ‘megaprojects’. Distinguished by the bulk of their envisioned materiality, the volume of financial capital required to build them, and the complexity of technical, legal, administrative, and political tools needed to bring them into operation, megaprojects do not easily lend themselves to ethnographic inquiry. While in recent years, ethnographic attention to infrastructure has given rise to a burgeoning theoretical apparatus and a growing anthropological subfield in which the superlative aspects of megaprojects have been analysed, the concept of scale has been less theorised to in relation to this. By exploring megaprojects from a variety of locations and angles, the contributions reveal how scales are dynamically produced and what the social, political and aesthetic implications of scale-making are. This special issue aims to contribute to critical anthropological engagements with the practices, politics and concept of scale to further understand the contemporary allure of megaprojects to governments, corporations, experts and citizens. Show less
Capitalizing on its comparative political and social stability in the region, in recent years the Moroccan regime has been attracting global and regional investors with the promise of new ... Show moreCapitalizing on its comparative political and social stability in the region, in recent years the Moroccan regime has been attracting global and regional investors with the promise of new ‘megaprojects’ that aim to radically transform local natural, economic and social landscapes. Inaugurated in 2018, Morocco’s (and Africa’s) first high-speed rail line (LGV) is considered a flagship project within this landscape. Part of a wider ‘development corridor’, this 2-billion-euro infrastructure has become invested with political, ideological, and strongly affective meanings related to ideas of mobility and future prosperity, even as it violently displaced informal housing communities and created disruptions along the existing rail network. Drawing on the recent theoretical apparatus of anthropologies of infrastructure, this paper traces the ways in which the introduction of high-speed railway has thrown into stark relief the scaling of geographical and temporal relationships of belonging in Morocco. From this exploration scale emerges as a political process of spatiotemporal re-arrangement that contributes to the consolidation of particular power relations while also providing a conduit for their critique. Show less
In the spring of 2014, an unprecedented wave of police raids swept over every lower-class (sha‘abi) neighborhood across Morocco. Dubbed “Operation Tcharmil,” the raids targeted young, lower-class... Show moreIn the spring of 2014, an unprecedented wave of police raids swept over every lower-class (sha‘abi) neighborhood across Morocco. Dubbed “Operation Tcharmil,” the raids targeted young, lower-class men that matched viral online images in which track-suit-wearing teens boastfully displayed status objects and white weapons. Drawing on the theoretical apparatus of the “affective turn,” in this article I unpack the structural and historical factors that shaped both popular reactions and policing actions toward the sudden, online visibility of a politically and economically disenfranchised group. I situate this episode within current debates about the entanglement of neoliberal disciplinary regimes and the reproduction of particular social orders, and argue that attention to such outbursts can help us revitalize and rethink existing notions of class. Show less
This study aims to better understand how international cultural funding shapes opportunities for organizations to grow as generators of creativity able to provide transformative experiences for... Show moreThis study aims to better understand how international cultural funding shapes opportunities for organizations to grow as generators of creativity able to provide transformative experiences for local audiences. It analyzes the experiences of four cases located in the Middle East and North Africa region, namely L’Atelier de l’Observatoire (Morocco), Clown Me In (Lebanon), Bantmag (Turkey), and Volunteer Palestine (West Bank). Although the Prince Claus Fund, Hivos, and European Cultural Foundation (ECF) have sought alternatives to the neoliberal instrumentalization of their funding measured according to the rubrics of impact, our research shows that organizations still struggle with the need to appeal to international funding bodies while also focusing on their work as embedded in local conditions. Show less
The first decade of the 21st century marked a change in the design and implementation of urban strategies in Morocco through the intro- duction of sectorial policies and reforms of various kinds... Show moreThe first decade of the 21st century marked a change in the design and implementation of urban strategies in Morocco through the intro- duction of sectorial policies and reforms of various kinds aimed at encouraging investment and stimulating economic growth. Megaprojects have emerged as the preferred implementation tool of these urban strategies. In this article, we examine this development through the case of large-scale projects in Casablanca, Morocco‘s economic capital. We argue that these changes are as much a result of structural reforms as they are indicative of global and transnational neoliberalisation logics. Together, these act as the main drivers for the city‘s ambitions to increase economic productivity and become a regional business and financial hub. We further argue that this is being effected through a pro- liferation of ‚supply‘ strategies that have led to a standardisation of urban development policies and planning forms at the expense of local needs. We follow these developments on three levels: megaproject governance, influence on regulatory frameworks, and the transformation of local socio-spatial fabrics. Show less
In a makeshift rooftop studio overlooking the city of Cairo nine men gather for a workshop in which they enact, according to the film’s makers, “confrontations of everyday life, with the police and... Show moreIn a makeshift rooftop studio overlooking the city of Cairo nine men gather for a workshop in which they enact, according to the film’s makers, “confrontations of everyday life, with the police and at the workplace” (Metwaly & Rizk). Opening up with a trance-like segment of grainy footage of a gritty, dilapidated space which we are led to believe might be a disaffected factory, Out on the Street is a non-linear collection of scenes shot in the rooftop workshop, a series of fictionalized performances (or re-enactments of common scenarios), and footage shot on a cellphone by one of the workers who intends to use it as evidence in a court case against his employer. Show less
This article explores the role of infrastructure in the production of post-colonial political imaginaries linked to mobility and expectations of social justice. I focus on how the building of the... Show moreThis article explores the role of infrastructure in the production of post-colonial political imaginaries linked to mobility and expectations of social justice. I focus on how the building of the Casablanca tramway opened up new ways for engaging in political commentary and participation for a segment of the city that frequently lacks the direct means for accessing power. In the process, the aim is to contribute a brief account of the historical genealogies behind such projects and argue for an understanding of infrastructure as a site for the production of future aspirations and political engagement for marginalized communities. Show less
In this article I examine some of the ways in which giving and receiving care on the margins of Casablanca become ambivalently constituted acts inscribed in a context of historical trauma and... Show moreIn this article I examine some of the ways in which giving and receiving care on the margins of Casablanca become ambivalently constituted acts inscribed in a context of historical trauma and growing economic insecurity. Within this context I explore the usefulness of “un-homely” as a conceptual tool for discussing forms of domestic care on the margins of a growing urban center. Drawing on fieldwork material gathered during 2013–2014 in a marginalized and criminalized neighborhood in Casablanca, I use an ethno-historical approach to unpack the production of marginalization and poverty, and explore which forms of care are available to urban lower class women in particular. With the help of my closest interlocutor, Amina, I offer a discussion on the labor of caring, for oneself and of others, as well as the particular affect associated with this labor. I suggest that such skilled routines of caregiving do not only function as a coping mechanism for women in precarious situations, but they reproduce affects of un-homeliness as much as they contain them. I argue that it is this ambivalent weaving, between containment and acceptance, that ultimately serves to help make precarious homes and uncertain futures livable. Show less
Anthropologists have been studying the various phenomena associated with states and ‘state-like’ structures for a long time (cf. Fortes 1940, Leach 1954). It was only in the last decade of the 20th... Show moreAnthropologists have been studying the various phenomena associated with states and ‘state-like’ structures for a long time (cf. Fortes 1940, Leach 1954). It was only in the last decade of the 20th century, however, that ethnographers began to specifically define a new field for the study of the contemporary forms, functions, and actions of state apparatuses.Critical of both anthropological and political science approaches studying the state in African contexts, this volume’s stated objective is to shift focus from the “margins or interstices” of the state (cf. Das and Poole 2004) and towards the very core of bureaucratic processes and state actors. Show less
